Wednesday, 24 April 2013


Earlier this week, my wife was working in London.  In itself, this isn't all that unusual, but instead of spending her evening studying in her hotel room, she broke the routine by getting dressed up in a posh frock, putting on her posh shoes and taking herself off to watch "The Magic Flute" at the National Opera.  She even treated herself to a glass of champagne.


I hobbled my way around a run, iced my knee, put my onesie on and spent my evening in Skyrim levelling up my archery skills being shown how to use a bow by a lady called Angi in a shooting range that I discovered tucked away on the top of a mountain.

Good times.

So, I think you'll agree, when it comes to the question of who in our household is the most culturally enriched, there's a clear winner..... and as if there wasn't enough evidence stacked up in my favour already, I'm also considering a trip to Download in June to watch Iron Maiden.... a band than many wise judges consider to be the musical prodigies of our time.

I might even put a posh frock on....

Honestly.  Who wants to listen to "ghastly scales and arpeggios, whizzing up and down like fireworks at a fairground" anyway?  And in German?  Ugh.  "Italian is the proper language for opera. All educated people agree on that." *

(*with apologies to Peter Schaffer**)
(** ...and to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

1 comment:

  1. Years and years ago, Channel 4 made short black and white cartoons of different sorts of classics, like Hamlet (l think) and The Magic Flute (sure about this). In the Interests of Culture, we plonked the kids in font of the whole series and I recorded it on video (remember them?). The children got to know the songs and when The Magic Flute came to Opera North, I had the bright idea of taking them to see it. They were about five and six. Yes, I agree. Barking.

    Anyway, they cutely sang along to the songs for a few minutes, then asked loudly, "Where are the cartons, Mummy?" Many times. Then fell asleep.

    Their musical tastes now? Radio One Extra and 'Parental Advisory' stuff. This means parents shouldn't listen to the lyrics. Not ever.

    Magic Flute!