What a difference a day makes. Saturday found me in Liverpool visiting my wonderful niece who lives on the edge of China town. We went down into the street itself and watched the people practising their dances for today's belated New Year Celebrations. They couldn't have their parade last week as it clashed with Valentine's Day. This is the year of the Tiger,the street was light with lanterns and flags and traditional Chinese motives. Incense was being burnt at the entrance to the gate at the foot of the Lions that guard the gate.
We went down Bold St to a wonderful cafe/bar called the Italian Club and my nephew joined us for a lovely lunch. Before the three of us went down to L1 searching out birthday presents for their mum and step dad.
Liverpool is just a wonderful place to visit, there is so much going on culturally with loads of art galleries, street artists and just life. It really buzzes. And wandering around with two people as wonderful as Ellie and Tom really makes me happy.
This morning I awoke to this, 6" of snow and it's still snowing now. I cannot remember a year since I was a child when there has been so much snow. This is the second time we've had 6" of the nasty stuff. We only usually get a ground covering once every winter, not this much- twice. I know that in comparison to the East Coast of America this is nothing, but it is all relative. As a country we are not equipped to deal with snow like this. And it's unlikely that will change as this is the worst winter since 1963, so what's the point of wasting loads of money in preparation if they only happen every 40 years?
On checking my emails this morning I had a circular one from Geli. It was a piece of music played whilst a Spanish poem came up on the screen with photographs of horses. It was a lovely circular, but not because of the poem, which was wonderful as she sent a translation as well, or the photos, but because the music transported me back to when I was 16.
I was on holiday with my parents, sister and her best friend in Minorca. I went to have my hair highlighted in the hotel hairdressers and met this beautiful young man called Raphael who did my hair. He asked me out and we spent our evenings together with my sis and her friend with the two Spanish men they had also met. It was my first serious holiday romance.
On the last night of the holiday he took me out by myself. We went in a taxi to the side of the island where there are steep cliffs. We got out at a small door. Taking me by the hand we entered the door and walked down this path hewn in the cliff face.
It suddenly opened out into this nightclub half in the cliffs and half jutting out over the sea. It was the most romantic place I think I have ever been to.
In that year the big piece of music was a song by a French man, who I think was called Mark Anthony called Mon Amour, it was sung to the backing track of Rodrigo's Conceirto De Aranjuez (Adagio) Which is the most soulful piece of music ever composed in my opinion. So hearing this wonderful music, under the stars, with the sea crashing on the rocks below, in the arms of this beautiful man was ONE OF THE EXPERIENCES of my life.
And I cannot hear Adagio now without going back to that magical time and that wonderful night. And I may have to listen to it again just to stay there for a little longer this morning, which given the weather outside was just what I needed to take me somewhere else in the world for a moment.
