Summer Holiday
10 July

On Friday, my summer holidays began.

I celebrated with a nice bottle of Australian Riesling.

Ross and I also watched The Sea Inside which was a beautifully life-affirming film about a paraplegic's wish to commit suicide. Yes, I know that that sounds contradictory but you'll have to see it for yourself if you want to understand.

I've just finished The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham - most enjoyable. I love the way he tells a story; I love his command of prose; I love the way he allows you, the reader, to have more insight into character, relationship and incident that the dramatis personae. I'm sure that he really is due for a major re-discovery.

Saturday evening saw Ross and I drive over to Llandudno for a performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute given by Welsh National Opera. We saw the previous production, once again in Llandudno, four years ago. That production had been around for over twenty years. It's always a problem replacing a long-standing and much loved production. More often than not you end up with something that needs immediate replacement.

Happily, not so here. With its Magritte based designs and costumes, the stage was filled with delightful, crazy and logical pictures. Maybe not immediately, but I could sit through it again with enjoyment.

The best of the singing came from Rebecca Evans as Pamina. Hers was a truly world-class soprano, beautifully focussed, radiant in sound. I loved it. Pete Wedd was her Tamino and his voice has grown in size and stature since 2001 when he sang the same rôle.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes got big applause Papageno but, though his voice is lovely, I felt that he smudged at the part. Big disappointment, though, was Katarzyna Dondalska's Queen of the Night. Pretty much all of the notes were there but it was a small and squeaky sound that she produced.

So, why do I not come away from the performance bouncing as I normally do. Well, I put it down to the conducting. There just wasn't enough sparkle in the sound.

I also need to report that I have, over the past few months been listening to a number of very good classic serials on Radio 4. My favourite of these of all time has to be The Barchester Chronicles. Last year's The Pallisers was not in the same league.

Happily, this year's seven part adaptation of Paul Scott's Raj Quartet was absolutely enthralling from beginning to end. A excellent four stars.

This was followed by another good yarn - Thomas Hardy's Return of the Native which made much more sense of the narrative than the talking book I have of the same volume. And today, we've finished a two part serialisation of John Buchan's Greenmantle which, with its plot centring round the possibility of an Islamic holy war, seems ever prescient this week, despite its Boys Own narrative style. Three stars apiece for them both.

A few weeks back, I mentioned that Robert was coming to stay for a couple of days. Well, he arrives tomorrow.

I'm still not sure what the visit will bring. When I wrote the entry referenced above, I felt that I had a clear insight. As time has gone on, I have become more unsure. Frankly, it could be anything.

He might want

• to tell me that he is gay
• to tell me that he has an incurable disease
• to tell me that he is a father
• to borrow £10,000 to start his own dance company

We'll see.