Sunday 9 September 2007

Start of Autumn - The Proms

We are just about to go into my favourite season of the year - autumn. I like the slightly cooler weather. I like smell of autumn. I like the mistiness we sometimes get in the morning, the way leaves turn gold and russet, and I love the smell of bonfires (not that many people burn bonfires any more). September is usually a much more reliable month weather-wise than June, July or August. I think that because school is restarting, and the family summer holidays are now just memories for another year, people think that the summer is over and no longer have any great expectations of the weather, and so are always pleasantly surprised when we get a warm day in September.

Yesterday evening was the Last Night of the Proms. I went with a group of friends to have a picnic and watch/listen in Hyde Park. I am not a huge fan of classical music, so the lighter classical stuff you get in Hyde Park, together with a bit of easy-listening pop is great for me. I think that you need to be a genuine season ticket holding Prommer, or at least very organised to buy tickets for the Albert Hall. What stood out for me this year was that I got a real sense of the Proms being celebrated all round the British Isles. I'd always considered it a London event, so it was great that for the finale, we had choirs from Glasgow, Belfast (I think), Cardiff and Teesside signing songs/arias that are strongly associated with their part of the UK. This is the second time I've gone to this event in the park, and it felt like a great end to the summer/start of autumn.

2 comments:

PlazaJen said...

I'm with you on the start of autumn.....we're about to enter a week where the temps will be in the 70s-80s F/21s-26s C, if my online converter was correct. It's not quite cool enough to qualify, but after the summer we've had, anything feels better & like we're heading in the right direction.
Love the pic, you all look like you're having a really fun time!

KimT said...

i love LA in the summer. One of the reasons is that there are so many free summer concerts! You can practically see free live quality performances from the end June through the end of August. My dh and I usually spend an incredible amount of time enjoying all kinds of music in the summer. This year, we traveled so much that we only got to go to one this year. It was cool though, carribean music.
Sounds like you guys had a great time. Great way to end the summer.