Well, it's been a busy week.

Tuesday evening's show at the Kirk, St. Andrew's, was fun but very quirky. The event was M.C.'d by a local band made up of a rather loud woman who was the spokesperson/singer/lead, a quiet guitar guy who doubled as sound technician, an old but still spry banjo player/comedian, and a 15-year-old accordian-playing wunderkind who could also sing (with a thick Newfie accent), dance, play fiddle and paint, apparently. We were an important act but only one of about eight. Other acts included a duet of a young mother/singer and an old pianist who performed "Give My Regards to Broadway" and the "Prayer of St. Francis", a classical guitar player who made self-depreciating jokes about his nervousness, the banjo player who sang "How Much for that Doggie in the Window" with dog sound effects from the audience, and lots of folk songs.

We had an early set but then waited while the show went on and on. Did I mention it was held in the church hall, which looks remarkably like a high school basketball court? We finally finished with the Ode to Newfoundland, the national anthem, at about 11:30.

On Wednesday, Anne and I slept in, then turned on the television to see that it was a beautiful day and the Royal St. John's Regatta was in full swing on Quidi Vidi Lake, just over the hill. After fortifying ourselves from Tim Horton's we walked over to the regatta, which was packed with people. The place of honour was the lake, and the 6-person sculling races upon it, but most of the people seemed to be there just for the sunshine, the food (fast food stalls and cotton candy) and the carny games which had the normal prizes of stuffed animal toys. After a look around, small tubs of homemade ice cream from a stall called "Moo Moo's" (with cow spots) and a slice of pizza each, we went for a nice hike around the lake and made our way back to the hotel.

On Wednesday evening we went out to Brian Power's parents' place out by the airport with the rest of the choir. We sat on the back deck as tray after tray of muchies passed around, culminating in cod tongues, before a fine dinner of rice, salad and seafood stew.

Thursday morning found us, once again, lazy lumps sleeping in. Hey, it's a vacation, ok? When we finally emerged, we met most of the rest of the choir down at the docks for a trip on the tourist tour boat the S.V. Scademia, a fine looking but rather impractical vessel, somewhat too narrow for stability on the open sea. We saw several whales from a moderate distance but it was, on the whole, a disappointing trip. After we got back, Anne and I went with Gabrielle to the Classic Cafe for hot roast beef sandwiches and chowder. Then we repaired to Gabrielle's room to watch "Finding Nemo", a beautiful and very fun Pixar movie. By the time we were hungry enough for dinner most everything was closing, so we ended up at the Pasta Plus Cafe for the third time.

This morning, our last full day in St. John's, we all got up and went up the hill to Cochrane Street United Church, where we'll be singing tonight, for a rehearsal. It's a nice space with a good organ, but a very live acoustic under a domed roof. At the end of the rehearsal a gang of 13 of us zipped out of St. John's and down the coast to Witless Bay for another delicious lunch at the Captain's Table. Afterwards I dropped off Anne and Julia at Bay Bulls, and the van brought most of the others, where they picked up a whale and puffin watching tour. As for me, I went back to the restaurant where Gabrielle was holding down the table and had dessert.

From the Captain's Table, Gabrielle and I drove out to Cape Spear, which she hadn't seen. I wrote my postcards while she looked around. Finally, we picked up Anne and the others. They'd had a fabulous trip and saw a whale frolicking up close. The guide said he'd counted the young whale breaching 37 times! We returned to St. John's to prepare for the concert.
posted by Tom at 8:20 PM | link |