The perfect ensemble for any project
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PARIS (February 2006)
Amy Haworth,
Micaela
Haslam,
Rachel
Weston,
Heather
Cairncross
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"We arrived at our hotel in Brussels only to be told that we had to pay for our 3 nights stay in advance - not a good start. Fortunately, after much mobile number searching, we managed to get hold of the manager of Ictus, Lukas Pairon. I don't know what he said to the guy on the desk, but it seemed to do the trick. Then, once we had our keys, I enquired what time breakfast would be. "That's not included" came the reply.... going well! The hotel was one of these Citadines (apartment-type) places in the old fish market. It was certainly better than I remembered it, having stayed there about 8 years ago, but the kitchen was still in the bedroom and the fridge still kept me awake. Heather had the right idea and turned it down to zero - why didn't I think of that? I still don't understand why anybody would choose to sleep on a sofabed every night, though. I'd like to know how many people turn the bed back into a sofa each morning. I bet it's not many. Call me old-fashioned, but give me a bedroom with a bed in it any day. |
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The
other girls went off shopping at every available opportunity, though
there weren't too many 'spoils' to show for it. I was busy in my
tower of isolation putting together the final details for my workshops
in Enschede (with the Reisopera Chorus) the day after our Paris gig.
We
had a lovely easy train ride to Paris. (They really do know how
to run public transport in Europe. It makes England's overpriced,
scruffy and unreliable efforts look pathetic.) Then we took the
overground up to the Cité and walked to
our hotel from there. Having spent 3 days in a cold, rainy
Brussels we were all overdressed for this lovely sunny day in Paris,
and arrived at our hotel feeling somewhat flushed. For some
reason, we all seemed to have very heavy suitcases too. Mine was
full of scores for the workshops. Not sure what Heather's excuse
was!
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Rachel
had a tough few days as she had somehow put her back out and was
feeling a bit queasy. I felt as though I was coming down with
something but tried to ignore it in the hope that it might go
away. Fortunately, Rachel's back was much better at the end of
the week. My voice, however, all but disappeared within about one
hour of the concert. I was totally gutted the next morning when I
realised that this wasn't going to improve in the next 24 hours and the
only option I had was to cancel my Enschede workshops. I can't
remember the last time I ever pulled out of anything - particularly at
such short notice. I felt dreadful at having to do this. I
was really looking forward to them, and I'd done a considerable amount
of preparation. In addition, I felt dreadful! So I was
especially pleased to see Will at the airport. The original
plan was that he would take home my concert stuff from Paris, but he
ended up taking me home instead!"
Micaela
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represented by
Rehearsing in the Cité