No McDonalds

No rowing again today, too windy. Although, seriously, our Auckland crew would have been out there! Hardy, those women rowers back home. So more running, more ergs – but this time with the radio going which makes the 20 mins go a lot faster.

I have it on high authority (that of 11 year old Ivana) that the beautiful blue of the Adriatic is because there is not very much plankton in the sea. So there, now you know. And apparently that is also why the sea is not brimming with fish. There are a lot of little black ones that you can see because the sea is so so so blue and clear…

I ventured out to the Laundromat today after washing by hand to date. I thought that I would be sitting watching the washing go around for a while, but the lady in the Laundromat does it for you. We acted out the ironing (no thanks, its towels etc) and the dryer (no thanks, I have somewhere to hang it) and she wrote 11.50 on a bit of paper. Silly me, I presumed that that was the earliest I could pick it up, but it was the time that the place shut – I came at 12.30, to discover that I can’t pick my jeans and my towels up until 8 in the morning.

This evening I was invited to a Classical Music  Concert.  It was a very formal occasion with all performers bowing at the commencement of their particular items and then at the end of the items. And all music (played on two of the most gorgeous grand pianos) was played from heart. It was held in a beautiful old building which houses both the public library (ground floor) and the Music School on the 2^nd floor.

The thing that was most impressive was that the pianists ranged from maybe 7 year olds (boys and girls) to first year in high school. And I was there at the invitation of the 11 year old Ivana. I watched as the gentleman who used to be the director of the music school sat forward as Ivana started the first of her two items and listened transfixed. The music played her, not the other way around – she was fantastic. And all she wanted at the end was an ice-cream.

Ivana’s mother Branka told me that the discipline required from the pupils by the teacher is intense. She requires and gets a high standard from her pupils. So, there is no McDonalds in this town but there is a large Classical Music School¸ and this is so in all towns of this size (the music school – not sure where the nearest McD’s is..)