We're Lost in Music

Having a morning off work meant that I could visit my other Mr D earlier today and have time for a long chat. Mr D was really pleased to see me and was keen to show me the latest piece of art work he's started. It's in chalk pastels and he's working from a photo he got in the radio times of Daniel Kaluuya (of Black Mirror fame). He explained that he had a lot more to do on it as he hadn't yet got the facial proportions right and explained how he likes to create his art while listening to classical music on the radio or CD. This reminded him that I'm a singer and we soon got chatting about my recent rehearsals and concert at the Barbican, and he was really interested to hear all about it, and upcoming concerts with various famous conductors who he had heard about. He wanted to know if I ever got lost on my way into London and laughed when I spoke about going to the wrong rehearsal space, or getting on the tube going in the wrong direction and having to travel back again. I noticed that Mr D had a number of papers out on the table and he showed me that he was in the middle of translating an article for technical journal (about probes for Mars) into Russian. I am amazed at how many languages he has learnt. He learnt Latin at school as it was a requirement to get into Oxford at the time, and he was taught Russian while doing his National Service, but subsequently he has learnt conversational French and Spanish in order to get by when on holiday. I felt a little bit sheepish when I told him about my 163 day streak on Duolingo. This is the man who when he was 11 asked for a French dictionary for his Christmas present. Once again the conversation came back to music and he asked if I would be singing in any Christmas concerts, and he said that he used to sing in the school choir, as the school he went to had a music festival every year and all the boys had to take part. We'd been chatting for 2 hours at this point as I hadn't noticed the time, and worrying that I'd outstayed my welcome I thought it time to go. I'm hoping to see him again before Christmas, but at least he will be getting a visit from his son and daughter on Christmas Day. I'm looking forward to my next visit as he is so fascinating and at the age of 91 is doing incredibly well. I'm in awe and only hope I will have done half the things he's done when I'm that age.