Arrival Canterbury

I left Nottingham at 12.12 and was able to transfer at St Pancras to a train an hour earlier than planned. That means I got to Canterbury at 15.08. On the train a call from my sister Anne meant that plans were going to change in the next two weeks. Anne's husband David had fallen at 6 am and fractured his left hip. He ended up in Margate hospital and he had a hip replacent repair on Sunday evening. My grand neice Ruth and her boyfriend Max wanted to go to the Festival Evensong at Canterbury Cathedral at 5.30. There was the full (women's) choir and the men Lay Clerks. One lesson read by the Festival chairman. The Lord and Lady Mayor of Canterbury were in attendance with their vestments (badges worn around their necks - not sure what they are called). Lovely singing and we were able to sit close by the choir in the stalls. I had a quick beer and pulled pork tacco with Ruth and Max. What a pleasure it is to chat with young people - they are in their early twenties. He a graphic artist and Ruth presently working as a Barrista in a coffee shop. At 7.30 was a superb concert by Supersize Polyphony. Sadly my sister Anne was not able to be with me. The nave of the Cathedral was about 80% full. People wearing masks walking around but not sitting where there was no social distancing seatings. There were six different choirs. All early music instruments. The music sounded much like Monteverdi's vespers. Unusual composers - Striggio and Von Bingen. Also Thomas Tallis "Spem in Alium". The second half was Henrich Biber's Missa Salisburgensis. 53 different parts in this piece. The sound in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral when sitting near the front was uplifting.