Perspectives
22 October
It's amazing the change of perspective a few days can bring.
Autumnal oranges, golds and reds are appearing in the trees at last. I do miss hearing the flights of geese passing over which were a feature of my Walthamstow days but now instead I see mists lingering over farmers' fields in stray wispy garlands. The days start later in the North West but last a little longer. We're only ten weeks away from the still point of the year. And I'm a hive of activity.
I appear to be getting into the swing of things. I've got my utilities organised with gas, water and electricity companies now billing me for Kimberley Avenue. Council Tax is also sorted and the central heating system should be commissioned by the end of the coming week.
One interesting thing I learnt from North West Water was that I don't have
to start paying my water bills until the furniture is delivered. That means
that I can have as many free baths as I like before then.
Though presumably,
that accounts for why landlords with empty properties don't mind if there's
leaking pipes and all. 
Ross has been staying the past few days.
I do love my little bunny. When I woke up this morning, I found that we were
holding hands. 
Yes,
I know that it's cringe making but, at the same time, doesn't it just make you
go all warm inside.
I can honestly say that, after four and a bit years, I still look at him from time to time and feel a leap in my heart. And we both know that we sleep all the more soundly when we are together.
Saturday brought an important encounter. Ross and I met up with my family in Crosby for the parental viewing of the new property. Albert and Grace were most impressed and have had their curiosities assuaged. They were accompanied by Linda and Mary and it was lovely to see them both. This meant that Linda met Ross.
This was a first in that they have not met before. It was also a first in that Linda has never met any of my partners before. Quite purposefully. A long while ago she told me that Richard (then my partner) was not welcome in her house and that she did not want to meet him - and that was without even knowing him. That kept me angry for many years. But her husband, Ian, has been remarkably instrumental is smoothing her out and allowing us to come to our own accommodation about issues around my sexuality.
There have been a couple of trips out to Opera North at the Lowry too.
Schumann's Genoveva passed without incident. I can't say I hated it,
the production or the performances. But I wouldn't ever go and see it again.
Like Schubert's Fierrabras which I went to see
at the Buxton Festival earlier in the year, it helps fill in a gap in my
knowledge of the development of German opera but any enjoyment in the evening
was at that sort of intellectual level. I sat there for a long while
contemplating the theme of wifeliness in the Germanic school from Die
Zauberflöte through Fidelio and Lohengrin (most of Wagner in
fact) up to Die Frau Ohne Schatten. Yawn.
Interestingly the opera was premiered in 1850, the same year as Lohengrin and as Verdi's Stiffelio which is another opera which takes a long look at marriage and the role of wife. Schumann takes about 20 minutes to round things off with a series of choruses and processions. Verdi cuts to the heart of things reaches a climax, ties things up and lets you get out the theatre. I do prefer that approach.
The other trip out was to Puccini's La Rondine. Very rarely done but full of gorgeous melody. I've been humming the tunes all day. It is not the greatest work of art but it is competent and has lots of charm and a bittersweet quality to the story line and the music. I would certainly go again to that production or another. The audience loved it even though the critics scoff.
Ross and I met up in the intervals with a young man who turned out to be a
(very cute) stagehand with the Company. He didn't seem to mind being chatted
to by two flagrant homosexuals either. Maybe he'll be there when the Company
return in the Spring. 
In this country, flood damage to property has been extensive in parts of Kent and Sussex. No-one, I think, lost their lives. In the Italian Alps, some 15,000 people have been evacuated from rising flood waters. 25 people are known to be dead and a further 21 are missing. In Vietnam, the Mekong river has burst its banks. Over 350 people are dead. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. Flood waters are so high that they may not be able to return to their dwellings until December. There's another sort of perspective for you.