Winter weather...

This morning on East Hill

 

 

It's been an excellent weekend: yesterday was a little dominated by the presence of a plasterer for the entire day in No. 7, putting on the first coat of lime plaster in six rooms of the Shoebox, but in the evening we had the joy of seeing "La Clemenza di Tito" beamed through to the Hastings Odeon from the Met in New York.  When we were in France we used to go and see the Met transmissions in Périgueux, which were always well attended - in fact you had to arrive fairly promptly not to find yourself too close to the screen.  Now we have the advantage of being able to walk fifteen minutes to the cinema instead - however, there were only 13 of us in the cinema, so we shall have to do some work to publicise the event and get other opera buffs along. 

 

Let me take advantage of this to give the Met a plug: the so-called HD (as in High Definition) transmissions are live broadcasts of performances by the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and enable you to see in close-up the world's best singers.  It is now transmitted to cinemas throughout the world.  Have a look on their website by clicking here.



 

Today, as you can see from the photo above, we have had beautiful winter weather: crisp and sunny.  For the first time for what seems an eternity we were able to take the dogs up for a walk on East Hill, behind the Shoebox, and enjoy the stunning views out to sea and across to Beachy Head.  I am having to get used to the early evenings after the Dordogne - it is dark by 4.30 and I am already counting the days to the 21st December, shortest day of the year, so that I can measure the daily increase in light after that.  But when you have a day of sunshine, however short, it's easier to put up with the long nights.

 

Antony Mair

 

 

Balzac was happy too...