A musical week

I ALMOST managed to ruin a birthday present this week by inadvertently double-booking myself on the same evening as a at the Royal Opera House. The happy compromise was that I left my first appointment early and joined the family after the first interval. It felt very luxurious arriving late at the ballet. I gathered drinks and nibbles in the empty foyer, secured a table on the terrace and waited for the family to turn up. The auditorium itself was thronged and the audience enthusiastic. It was impossible to believe that, only a few months ago, we would have been wearing masks and social distancing.