After the Siberian temperatures, an almost balmy Sunday [March 11
and the UK Mothers’ Day to boot] arrived in time to add
lustre to a Lovely Day Out. To Gent on the 9.33 slow train, it being
a Sunday, where I was met by the owner of my flat and his wife at
Gent St Pieter’s. Off we went to a fund-raising Concert for the
Soroptimists, in the lovely Miry Concertzaal in Gent Conservatorium
There, I learned that the core mission of the Soroptimists is to help
women and children all over the world. I knew several people in the
movement when I lived in Kent but assumed it was something like a
female Rotary for professional women and had never dug deeper. A
leaflet describes itself as 'Le Soroptimist
International, une voix
pour les femmes' and I like that. In Belgium alone it has 1660 members
so, internationally, it is a force to be reckoned with.
The concert was marvellous, offering a programme of Mozart, Schubert,
Chopin, Dvorak, Smeets and Gershwin interpreted in lively and
imaginative piano playing. One really didn’t want the music to
stop! The pianists were a mother and daughter duo; Eliane Rodrigues
from Argentina and her daughter who is half Belgium, Nina Smeets,
brilliant pianists both. Eliane is much the more famous and she is
also a composer, beginning composition as a precocious three year
old, and giving her first public recital at five. She won a special
prize at 18 in the Van Cliburn concourse and started teaching in
Antwerp Conservatorium at age 20. But there have been shadows in her
life, not apparent in her feisty and uninhibited public persona. Her
daughter, Nina, was for a long time in a coma when she was three, and
doctors had given up hope of her rescue but, no doubt as a last
resort, the non-stop playing of her mother’s rendition of Mozart’s
No. 12 concerto, eventually brought her round. Nina is now a most
accomplished pianist and composer too.
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A narrow channel added to give the sound of water near the
main entrance.
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Astonishingly, the 450 strong audience was treated to refreshments
and ample opportunities to socialise, for the next hour after the
concert. My hosts eventually drove us to their new home, still not
entirely finished but stunning in its style. It is both a conversion
and a rescue of a mediaeval Priory on the larger site of an Abbey
complex, built originally in the tenth century, all near Oudenaard.
The house itself had been empty and abandoned for perhaps twenty
years and a huge amount of architectural planning, renovation,
new-build additions and inner re-furbishment over the past four
years, have resulted in a very desirable and highly individual home.
I felt so lucky to be able to visit and view the innumerable small
details that conserve authentic details while making a style
statement. The modern additions like the spacious large glazed
terrace at the back, merge seamlessly in because of the use of
appropriate materials and the individual style of the contents,
consistent throughout. This rescued Priory is an object lesson in
conservation plus.
As I have read through the above, I have to admit that it does seem to have caught the breathless wonderment and admiration that characterises many a style interview about a famous person's private space. All I can say in self-defence is that the old Priory DOES hit the spot!!
One week after writing the above I discover that it was never published! I have had friends staying and gave scant thought to Other Things but here it is, at last. And after that balmy Sunday described above, came a little more snow and days of Siberian temperatures. However, nothing to match the icy white-out in many parts of the U.K.
STILL steaming over the fact that the end of Dutch level 4 examination was summarily cancelled the evening before the event because the teacher was ill. It might have taken place two days later, if she had recovered but I couldn't go because of visitors so she said that someone would phone me with an alternative arrangement. As nothing had happened, I rang the college as soon as my guest had left and was told I would be contacted. As no one has, I have the frustrating feeling that I have missed the boat; what does it matter to the authorities that one elderly person hasn't taken the exam and, furthermore, a person who was not intending to continue to Level Five? I shall try again tomorrow, ten days after the event-that-never happened. I am beginning to realise that I feel quite resentful if my plans are changed without my involvement; it is the lack of control that is hard to stomach even if the change is minor. The elderly do grow evermore powerless so that day-to-day control over their personal lives assumes an even greater significance.
However, today to have my hair cut and the gifted kapper/owner having broken his arm, an assistant who usually blow dries my hair, was to do the cut-and-style. He has been having 'problems' with his present partner so we had a long and intense discussion and feelings of powerlessness were dismissed as he asked my advice ['you are so old' in this case meaning, 'wise'!] Eastern Europeans have a gratifying deference to the aged which quite restored my spirits! AND he did a great job on my hair. Definitely ask for him next time!
