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Wet, windy, and late
I assigned this entire week to attend free concerts, so-called "Eind Examen" - end exams. For a month now, graduating students at Utrecht Conservatory have been giving one hour recitals. I was unable to attend the earlier ones because of my own exams and concerts. So it's a relief and a luxury to be able to blank out the week just to sit in the audience.
On Monday 21st June, I attended a violin concert followed by a trumpet concert.
On Tuesday 22nd June, I went to two cello concerts back to back.
On Wednesday 23rd June, I managed to hear two violin concerts with a viola de gamba concert in between.
On Thursday 24th June, I sat in a piano concert followed by a baroque oboe concert.
On Wednesday, the weather changed for the worse. It was both rainy and windy. Cycling with my right hand on the bike and my left hand holding my beloved but expensive olive green umbrella bought in Tokyo's Ginza district, I was weary of the dangers of travelling under such poor weather conditions. How do the Dutch cope with this kind of weather? My blue Barber jacket did not hide my jeans from the rain. And I was afraid that the wind might break my umbrella.
On the way back, I managed to catch the 21:15 train from Utrecht with the intention of getting home by ten o'clock.
To my surprise and aggravation, the train halted to a standstill at Hilversum. It was deja vu all over again. This time there was a reason for the delay. Apparently a tree had fallen on the tracks. After a brief period of uncertainty, the passengers were told to get off the train and walk to platform 3 to wait for the stoptrein (slow train) bound for Amsterdam Centraal.
Too bad I had finished reading the two back issues of the free English language paper Amsterdam Weekly I had brought with me. With nothing else to read except the clock and other restless passengers, I soon grew bored of waiting. More than half an hour later, the delayed train arrived.
By then, all I could think of was getting home and jumping into a hot bubble, aromatherapy-enabled bath. I must be a real die-hard to cycle in the heavy rain and wind to attend concerts of musicians I don't know personally. Ah! But that is the price of my commitment to a life of music.
25 June 2004 Friday
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