‘Once you learn to read you will forever be free.’ Seeing as how it is World Book Day, I felt today’s quotation should be something to do with reading, and I like this quote from Frederick Douglass. Does anyone know…
DelMarch 2, 2017
One of the joys of becoming more savvy about social media is discovering the amount of stuff that is out there for free - freebiefriday, freebiethursday etc. And there's some good quality stuff amongst the errr ... maybe quite there in…
DelFebruary 26, 2017
As a result of Wordpress not liking the format of my script, I've made a pdf. I saw this sign at Victoria this morning and whilst on my journey, imagined who had come up with such a bonkers idea. Act…
DelFebruary 22, 2017
It’s been a while in the making, but we’ve finally done it! We’ve been racking our brains as to how to bring together two wonderful worlds, those of writing and photography. And tonight we’re thrilled to unveil the latest initiative…
DelFebruary 14, 2017
I was flâneuring around the ‘burbs of Vienna, when I stumbled upon these furry dice and thought they deserved inclusion in the hall of nostalgia. Actually, I’m not sure if they really fit the nostalgia genre, since I think they…
DelFebruary 9, 2017
The latest offering to the series of nostalgic objects is the flowery saucepan. At one time, they were all the rage. Produced before the word ‘non-stick’ entered the language, these elegant cooking pots were lined with enamel. If chef burnt…
DelJanuary 29, 2017
Mozart’s birthday and a good excuse to add another track to the opera playlist. My favourite Mozart opera is whichever one I’m listening to at the time. But for the birthday track, I’ve chosen Don Giovanni, a cenar teco and…
DelJanuary 27, 2017
The nostalgic object list should definitely contain a teasmade. The gentle awakening to the sound of steam puffing uphill to reach the teapot, the squeals of agony as the hot steam hits your face as you forgot to turn the…
DelJanuary 26, 2017
On the recommendation of wpnewington, I spent a happy hour watching Rick Stein’s long weekend in Vienna (available here on BBC iPlayer). Arriving at Schwechat airport, Stein points out the Figlmüller sign for Wienerschnitzel and says how much he’s looking…
DelJanuary 8, 2017
… as the good bard said. Twelfth Night, and the festive season draws to a close for another year. Hurrah! Normal service can be resumed. Twelfth night dates back to a time when Christmas marked the start of twelve days…
DelJanuary 5, 2017
A new year … if the old adage ‘start as you mean to go on’ is true, then 2017 is going to be one of laziness and indecision. But it is Sunday. And we did manage to get up in…
DelJanuary 1, 2017
Today’s choice is a rather obvious one, for which I make no apology, as we need to finish the year on a high. For the ultimate New Year jollity, there is nothing to beat Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. As my one…
DelDecember 31, 2016
A notable omission from the opera play-list, so far, is Gounod, but that’s being rectified as we speak with the addition of Maria Callas singing Je veux vivre dans ce rêvre qui m’enivre. The aria is from Romeo et Juliette.…
DelDecember 30, 2016
Or at the side of the holy church, as temples didn’t feature on our morning perambulation, whereas a church is easy to find as you’re never far away from one in Vienna. Today’s choices are two magnificent pieces from La…
DelDecember 29, 2016
Today we’re off to the underworld, which means we can add four tracks to the playlist thus filling in some of those gaps. Jacopo Peri (1581 – 1633) was an Italian, who wrote the first opera ever, so he definitely…
DelDecember 28, 2016
An endlessly intoxicating night of ecstasy eh? The night is still young … I’ve chosen Nuit d’ivresse d'extase infinie for today’s track on the opera playlist because it is simply exquisite. This version sung by Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto…
DelDecember 27, 2016
Boxing Day and that British tradition - the meet of the hunt. I have no idea where we are in terms of the legislation on this, as there are so many loopholes, exceptions and workarounds, as well as artificial trails…
DelDecember 26, 2016
No, not me … but Maddalena. I’m dedicating today’s post to my Dad - we still miss him so much. His love of opera was instrumental in the acquisition of my own passion for the genre. When he lived in Vienna,…
DelDecember 25, 2016