Taiko and tapas

It had been a busy weekend, starting with the Murder Mystery - which went exceedingly well. My life long friend from Library School was visiting until Sunday afternoon, and she and her mother came to that too. Oh yes, I did it, I was the murderer, well I would have been the murderer, but someone beat me to it, and so I poisoned my husband by mistake with the port (not my real husband you understand!) Its a long and complicated plot!

The long hot days of summer are still with us, so it was with pleasure that four of us got into Andy and Rebecca's car on Sunday afternoon, to go to Bristol. What a lovely trip. Two hours being driven through the lovely English countryside in a car with "climate control". Yesss. We were going to a concert in St Georges. We got there early and decided to have a bite to eat nearby before the concert. We found a lovely place with cool leather armchairs, and feasted on delightful snacks.

A great delight for me was to see a friend that I met in Japan, who was helping out behind the merchandising table, full of CDs and DVDs. He looked absolutely wonderful, the quintessential English gentleman, I would buy a used car from him let alone a CD. He greeted me with a hug and his lovely slightly ironic smile. The concert of taiko and shakuhachi was promoted by the same people/company with whom I travel to Kyoto for my Japanese temple and garden fix, Worldspirit.(thats a link to the concert details, but the website is worth a look) So it was good to see its boss there too and catch up on news from him, and reserve a place on the Kyoto trip in the Autumn, hooray!!!! Now I have to start saving.

The music was quite uplifting, and one shakuhachi solo "the nesting life of cranes" was quite transporting, on a deep level. I found the whole concert (apart from the riproaring rhythm pieces with all the drums and percussion) more pleasurable if appreciated with my eyes shut. I came away happy and with two new CDs (one taiko, one shakuhachi) and a replacement DVD for the video of Japanese gardens "Shishu" from Worldspirit that had stretched with use.

Taiko, shakuhachi, nachos and tapas - what perfect ingredients for an English summer evening!