lbs.

I'm somewhere between Kings Cross and York, and I just finished my vegetable pasty, and as Garrett Sholdice said, it doesn't take long out of London before that buzzing in your head quiets down. I haven't yet gotten used to the currency--so much prettier than the ecumenical euro--and probably won't get a chance to before I fly back to Dublin tomorrow.

Yesterday was boiling in London, easily 80 degrees. I could not think, stumbling around partly lost and partly just bored for the sake of nothing to do all day, and too much heat to do it in. It was vindicated, though, by the excellent concert by the Fidelio Trio, with old works by Donnacha Dennehy, Linda Buckley, and Kevin Volans, and new works by Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, and (sort of) Gerald Barry.

The reason I am even here in the first place was today's interview with Garrett and Ben, and London was the only place I could meet them both together. They've started this organization, Ergodos, putting on contemporary music concerts and commissioning new material as often as possible.

One thing (more than one, really) Ben said interested me, in terms of his critique of the European mindset: Ireland is now officially two weeks into a recession, and they are a brand-new organization applying for arts funding. In order to survive through public budget cuts, they realize, you have to put effort into opening revenue streams aside from the arts council. Their goal is more than just having the same fifteen people in the new music crowd show up for every gig; it's to actually get new audiences in the door. The concert that they held in conjunction with a school in New York and the Royal Irish Academy of Music exemplified this: the new music crowd was largely absent, but there were whole families there listening to this music written decades ago that is still off-the-charts abstract even now.

(When is music not abstract?)

I must resolve to take the train more often. Train stations are significantly more quaint that airports, the nature is pretty, and this train even has spotty WiFi. Luckily, on my trip next week (next week!) From Munich to Salzburg to Halstatt to Wien to Budapest I'll be taking trains the whole way. It's time to decompress, to sit in four-seat rows where airplane cabins would almost certainly have six seats. Plus they have outlets to plug in your computer.

And, finally, the best thing about England? Cask ale.