An 18th Century Klotz

Today’s been a very social day. I had lunch in Jackson’s Lane Community Centre, where I met up with Louise, who's going to be editing Metro The Musical in Newcastle. It was wonderful to see her again. She’s looking very well, having been in Dohar for the past three months. Heaven knows how she survived there as a vegan, but she seems to think it was quite easy. I always forget how nice the cafe is at Jackson’s Lane. A cup of tea is far cheaper there than it is in Costa, and if you don’t pick one of the times when a thousand little girls dressed as princesses are preparing for a ballet class, it’s got a very nice atmosphere.


Fiona joined us and we went into town to look at violins, spending a couple of hours in a room above Guivier’s in Fitzrovia sampling scores of English violins. It was a German one, however, a Klotz, from 1717, which really stood out. It sounded stunning, and I could tell by the way that Fiona was responding to it, that she felt she’d uncovered something extraordinary. She’s now borrowed it for a few weeks to see how the pair of them get along.

I spent the rest of the day trying to deal with the issues that seem to have been thrown up by our decision to make the Pepys Motet an invite only event. Unfortunately it seems that not everyone who was invited has responded to say whether they’re coming, and more worryingly that a number who DID respond, haven’t found their way onto the official guest lists! There’s nothing we can do, I suspect, other than wait, and hope it all comes out in the wash. I got incredibly stressed about it all this morning, but suspect there’s nothing more I can do, other than pass on the worried emails and apologise for the misunderstandings. As long as no one decides – or is told - not to come, and we get everyone into the church, I’ll be thrilled. So if you’re reading this, and you’re worried, send me an email and I’ll check that you’re on the list.

November 11th 1660 and Pepys spent the late morning shopping for framed pictures. The two he eventually chose went down really badly with Elizabeth, so one of them, a picture of Paris, was sent back. He was obviously feeling flush, for after work, he also purchased a silver tankard for 20l. He came home and played music into the early hours, whilst his wife sat up waiting to wake the wench, Jane, so that she could do the monthly clothing wash. Apparently, 2am was the time she needed to wake up to start boiling the water, but in the days before alarm clocks, who else was going to wake her up?!