Today Gord and I went to the "Sunday Morning Coffee Concert at Wigmore Hall" where we heard the Arcanto Quartet. They played Puccini's Crisantemi, Beethoven's String Quartet in F minor Op. 95 "Serioso", and Bartok's String Quartet No. 6. And they played beautifully. The Bartok was particularly difficult, but the performance was wonderful (perhaps because they recently released a recording of it?). I was not familiar with this, his last, string quartet, but it was very recognizable as Bartok. And what an interesting ending--so quiet, not your typical, obvious ending. For the after-concert refreshments, we opted for the sherry instead of the coffee or juice. After all it was past noon!

We spent the afternoon quietly at home, Gord marking papers and me back working on the inventory list which I had put aside weeks ago. See? I'm taking my new approach to my last week very seriously. I don't have to see everything. I'll be back someday. Relax, enjoy, reflect.

Then Jo, down from Manchester for a seminar, came over for dinner. We had a very nice visit. I am regretting that I never got up to Manchester. But, I WILL get back someday.

As I sit writing this, I can hear the wind picking up outside. It's actually quite loud. But tomorrow is supposed to be the nicest day this week, cold but partly sunny. Cold, I suppose, is a relative term to those of you in the northeast. You would probably enjoy some weather in the low 40s about now.

My plan for tomorrow is to take an early fast train up to York. It's 195 miles north of London, about the same distance as Saratoga to NYC, but you can get up there in two hours--an easy day trip. And it is still consistent with my plan to relax a little (although Gord isn't quite convinced!). I will have four hours of reading time on the train and another four to six hours exploring this medieval walled city and its Minster. It sounds perfect to me.