A Wet and Chilly Bank Holiday

Well, it looks as if the summer is going to end in cold and gloom. Having experienced some of the hottest weather of a summer since 1976 we're now having to put up with rain and cold. I drove to Shenley Christian Fellowship with rain pelting the windscreen and walking from the carpark getting soaking wet. I refused to wear a jacket of any sort, which was a bit stupid, but I didn't see the point when I'd left the house. How is it we almost always get rain when there's a Bank Holiday? And can anyone tell me why banks get a holiday? What one earth have they done to deserve one? Why not nurses, police, ambulance crews, train drivers? Or any of a host of employed personnel? Anyway, as I sit here, in our sitting room, typing away at this blog post, I can see out of the window as the rain pelts down, making a noise on the window glass. Alfie, our little Yorkshire Terrier, poked his head out of the patio door from our kitchen and couldn't decide whether to brave the elements when it was definitely clear that he would get really wet when he had to go out the other morning quite early. He doesn't like getting wet, and who can blame him?

We did go out early as we usually do each morning. He came across a lady walking with a sort of wheeled zimmer frame who had a poodle with her. Alfie ran off to greet the poor dog, but he kept running rings around this white dog. He just wants to be friends and, possibly, play with most of the dogs we encounter on our early-morning saunter around Eaglestone Park. 

So, there's be a lot of people out and about, going for day's out to the seaside, probably National Trust properties, castles, stately homes, zoos (such as Whipsnade.) who will have their day ruined by rain. Well, it's what you come to expect when there's a Bank Holiday. Sitting in their cars, with Aunty Ethel and Uncle Maurice in tow, in traffic jams across the length and breadth of Great Britain, having to put up with the kids squabbling in the back of the car and husband and wife arguing about the best route to take to their favourite destination.  Having real problems with the map, getting it upside down and not being able to read it properly, probably because they've left their best reading glasses behind at home. The car windows steaming up, because of the wet weather. The children constantly repeating 'are we there yet?' Then when they get to the seaside, finding many attractions on the seafront closed for repairs, the ice-cream sellers running out of ice-cream or cold drinks. Endless queues at the sea-front cafes and restaurants. The sun eventually comes out, periodically, but then when it does rain, running to shelter under shop-frontages. Then, when they do eventually get back to the car, finding the sandwiches they've bought with them have gone soggy and the Thermos tea stone cold.

This evening we watched the BBC Proms concert version of 'On The Town,' the musical which has a musical score written by Leonard Bernstein, because it's the centenary of his birth. A really rousing piece of theatre done with real gusto and the L.S.O. (London Symphony Orchestra) conducted by John Wilson. He's done many concerts for the Proms, sometimes resurrecting scores from musical films such as those produced by M.G.M., and one year he did a concert based on the scores used in Warner Brothers animated cartoons and a hilarious one using the Tom and Jerry cartoon scores. The musicians looked as if they were really enjoying themselves, making all the odd sound effects, car horns, whistles, bangs and crashes. I'm so glad that the BBC shows the proms, even if they hide it all away on a minority channel such as BBC Four. A pity really, but at least they're broadcast somewhere. Just a pity they couldn't put it on BBC1 so that more people could discover the wonders of classical music, which isn't all long-winded symphonies, some of the lighter pieces could introduce a completely new audience. Mind you, we weren't watching it 'live' and had it on iPlayer. The wonders of modern broadcasting.