Out and about

Monday, October 11th., Cadogan Square, London.

We stopped in Harbour Street, at Hyland's and at Woolworth's. I had long been in need of a new cigarette-case (second) and I got one here for 6d. Dorothy received from me a pink pearl necklace with ear-rings to match, and 1 hat-pin and two morocco (?) books to hold snapshots of Virginia - the whole costing 8s. 6d. No wonder that this shop has a great fascination for the majority of human beings.

We hired a car and drove to Canterbury. I was rather overwhelmed by the size and the grandeur of the cathedral. Unfortunately we got in while a service was going on. This service, as far as I heard it, was unaccompanied choral, with bursts of organ. I never heard any other words but 'Amen', and I must have heard this 20 or 30 times. The composer had made a speciality of sustained notes, and some of these were certainly droned for quite a minute at a time. The music seemed to me to be banal, but the singing was good. The organ music played later was far more banal. As soon as the service was over, the people waiting to inspect the place were let loose, Dorothy and I among them. Yes, I was much impressed. The choir is original (William of Sens). Stained glass often fine. Also the place is full of history. The town also is 'pullulating' with history and antiquity. We got home just after six.



Additionally for October 11th., see 'Sincere, artistic ladies' -
http://earnoldbennett.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/lively-ladies.html

An evening of strong contrasts; at eight o'clock I left, the musical, emotional atmosphere of Sharpe's, where Sharpe, Weist Hill, Mrs. Sharpe, Werg and Alcock were playing to a very mixed audience, Cherubini, Saint-Saens, Stanford and Schumann; raced home on my bicycle, rushed out again, took the bus and was having supper with Miss Symonds and her mother at Thurloe Square in exactly half an hour. At Putney, music, loud laughter, undiluted emotionalism, and sincere artistic purpose. At South Kensington, literature, quietude, the restraint of an eighteenth century demeanour, - and sincere artistic purpose , too.