Doña Nobis Pacem at the crack of dawn

All change at Boarbank Hall ! I arrived around 1pm and when I got to the Hall and came in through the beautiful Edwardian front door there was scaffolding throughout the entire place. They have some very precious wall fresco paintings actually on the walls, and framed in the original glorious wood carving. The decor is all very ornate with fine mouldings and delicate plasterwork. All of these beauties now need repainting and restoring and so this is what is happening as I write.

It means that I am billeted in a different and more modern part of the building, close to the chapel and nearer to the nursing home, where I have use of a small kitchen for frequent teas and coffees, and the most miraculous thing ( well is has to be a miracle since I am in an abbey!), I have full strength wifi !

Y ou may be puzzled as to why I am so euphoric about the wifi but the reason for no postings o er the last few weeks is because I changed my phone and Internet supplier and on the activate day some numpty put a 'bar' or restriction on my landline! Nobody from Calcutta to Cambridge was able to lift this restriction and after a long and frustrating 21 days they finally decided that the only option was to put in a totally new phone line as if I were newly moved in! Free of charge, I hasten to add, as it was entirely the fault of our esteemed British Telecom !

So you see, I am like a child in a sweet shop! I can surf the net, receive and send emails, sync up devices and do all the other wonders of modern technology which we take so much for granted, until they are no longer available. 'Oh joy oh rapture unforeseen' to quote a well known Gilbert and Sullivan opera!

I have prepared a few small vocal surprises for the sisters, some wonderfully tricky new tongue twisters, and a three part setting of the Dona Nobis Pacem part of the Mass, by Mozart.

For the moment though I am going to have a rest on my bed. I left Paradise at 3.50am to be on the 7.30am plane to Manchester. Normally it would have been a little later, but without the 'sacred' and 'worshipped' wifi, I could not check in online ! Agh !

But I am here now.........zzzz


The delightful Victorian station on the edge of the bay at Grange over Sands