JetPlane

Wandered from Vis to Kus, across the bay. Pleasant walk to get there and found a good restaurant — Konoba “Vatrica”, where we ordered a beautifully grilled 2.3kg emperor fish for five of us (Barry had a steak). Wandered back past the open air cinema showing Inception on the large screen. Finished off with duty-free whisky (or rum) on the deck. Someone on the Russian boat next door is playing the accordion ‘Country Roads’ and ‘Hotel California’. Time for bed.

Through the smoke a figure appeared, with tongs…

We met up with Sarah and Jason for a night of sake tasting, not really knowing what to expect. Jason had had some bland sake in Japan, as had I (but also some lovely cloudy sake!). The evening was arranged by Cambridge Wine Merchants in the Punter Pub, where we had the fabulous sherry tasting in June. The tasting was conducted by Wakana Omija from Akashi-tai (and all the sake was from that small family company too). Wakana makes some sake during the winter, then spends the rest of time on promotion. She was great company.

We started with a plum sake spritzer with soda water, which was refreshing.

Akahashi-tai Honjozo, with opening snacks

Daiginjo Akashi-tai matched with Japanese mezze

Akashi-tai Honjozo Genshu matched with French food

Akashi-tai Genmai aged sake, with French and Japanese Food

Akashi-tai Shiraume Umeshu, matched with savory and sweet options

Headed off to Peterborough on the 5pm train with ‘Rob’ @gxusm to sample the delights of the Peterborough Beer Festival—one of the larger ones (and bigger than Cambridge). Very fast to get into the festival, owing to a sensible system for paying in advance for glasses which avoided the double queue issue. Huge double-tent layout with lots of beers. We sat outside for a while sipping beer, which was pleasant until the dusk came and the wind picked up and we headed back into the tent which was balmy and busy by comparison, Michael arrived about an hour later and tried his best to catch up with stronger beers. Ate a lovely steamed steak and kidney pudding for dinner from one of the stalls (shame there was no mustard)! We spent most of the night sitting at a table in one of the hospitality areas, which was very hospitable, but I suspect we had gatecrashed along with everyone else who was in there. 10pm train back to Cambridge, before tottering home.

Beers for the evening:

• Nobby’s — Nobby’s Nutz, a festival special golden ale, 4.2%. Good start to the evening.
• Loch Leven Brewery — Golden Goose, a red coloured ale in 80/- style. Lovely.
• Malt B Bewing Company — Old Reliable, another copper coloured ale, 4.2%  Good but not as impressive as Michael’s Thornbridge Colorado Red.
• Brewdog — 5am Saint from Aberdeenshire 5% ruby ale which was lovely.
• Het Anker — Gouden Carolus Classic, 8.5%. Chosen exclusively for the write-up in the Festival Programme “Gigantic thick head. Rich, creamy mouth feel. Banana is right up front with some peach and a hint of citrus”. How could I refuse? Nice way to end the evening.

Michael was working today and the weather forecast was pretty grim. So I wasn’t sure whether I’d go to the Pink Festival at Cherry Hinton Hall. It rained a bit, then dried up so I grabbed a jumper and cycled out with the newspapers and a groundsheet after lunch. The park was reasonably busy despite the forecast, and I plonked myself in front of the main stage to listen to the music. Quickly met up with Jonathan and we chatted, drank beer and ate some chips in front of the stage for a few hours, which was very nice and enjoyable and the atmosphere was good.

On the main stage, we saw:

• Secret Circuits
• Samantha Jones — enjoyable
• Voice Couture — enjoyable

Jonathan had to leave to cook a duck, and I was getting cold, so I followed half an hour afterwards, sadly before much of the the more interesting music came on. It was a strange festival experience because I didn’t feel like I was at a gay festival. The crowd wasn’t particularly gay, which probably added to my impression. So sorry to say, Pink Festival itself didn’t work for me this year, but it was good to go.

Met up with Simon and Peter in London, for dinner at a Polish Restaurant in Knightsbridge called Ognisko. It has a lovely terrace overlooking (and almost in) a garden behind Exhibition Road. We sate on the terrace int he warm evening air, which was great and it didn’t really feel like we were in the centre of London. The restaurant has an air of an institution about it, as if it wasn’t a commercial concern. The food was good though—beetroot soup for the other three and a rich mussel soup for me. My lamb’s liver for the main was beautifully cooked, and all washed down with Polish Beer.

This was all a prelude to the BBC Proms at the Albert Hall, up the road. It’s the first time I’ve been in the Albert Hall and I was really impressed. The building is lovely, smart and with plenty of entrances to get you in or out quickly. Walking into the auditorium was quite stunning. Our seats were off to the side of the main stage, and we were very close at the orchestra and facing the soloists, which was great.

Prom 42 started with a mesmerising piece by Arvo Pärt (which is why we’d chosen this particular prom) and the solemn chime and rising and falling violins are eerie and mesmerising. The Britten that followed was also good. We had mixed views about Huw Watkins modern concerto, that was being premiered at this Prom. It was difficult and uncomfortable to listen to and I was amazed by the vigour and skill of the violin soloist, Alina Ibragimova, in playing this—it looked incredibly tiring. Playing the piece involved her whole body. It was certainly memorable. We bumped into Philip at the break—he’d come for the Shostakovich Symphony. This was great and I must admit that I dozed off for a few minutes a couple of times, to be woken up by some romping music. The BBC Symphony Orchestra was good and it was interesting to watch the musicians close up (rather graphic tuba-mouth-piece licking, and how skilful it is to ring a chime from low to high volume, when you are the main focus of the composition!)

Prom 42—Programme

• Arvo Pärt — Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
• Britten — Four Sea Interludes from ‘Peter Grimes’
• Huw Watkins — Violin Concerto
• Shostakovich — Symphony No.5 in D minor