A dreary Monday

Today the weather dropped to 11 frigid degrees. It also has been raining on and off, providing absolutely no incentive to step outside. Mind you, the temperature in the flat is the same as it is outdoors as there is no indoor heating here, so being in or out doesn't matter I suppose.

Featured in today's entry is Matt, seated at his home office. My desk is just behind his and although we were both sharing the one big desk in the beginning, having our own proper space has been a wise move, if not a little cramped. For some reason, we picked the smallest room in the house (if you don’t count the closet-size maid’s room) to spend 75% of our day when not sleeping. Go figure.

The opera Don Giovanni last night at the Hong Kong Cultural Arts Centre was fantastic. Performed by the Semper Opera Dresden, which is hailed as one of the world's leading opera houses, the performance included great singing by an international cast accompanied beautifully by the HK orchestra. It was much more engaging since i had just returned from visiting Mozart's birthplace, Salzburg, in addition to visiting the city he spent a large part of his life, Vienna. Now I'm no opera-fanatic, but this one is more or less able to please the masses, seeing as the subject revolves around some of life's most talked-about issues: love and death. The protagonist, Don Giovanni, is portrayed as a scheming and manipulative man, schmoozing his way to bed with a number of women, usually too naive and innocent to notice until too late. Throw in a murder in the beginning, a humorous and complacent servant to provide comic relief, jealous husbands/fiances, and a ghost come back from the dead, you've got yourself a story so successful it's lasted over 200 years! It sure beats the Sound of Music (for now), which btw, is still going strong at 41 years.

Overall, I was impressed and satisfied. We even received a free glass of champagne from the arts centre post-show! I’m happy that Matt enjoyed himself too. He even confessed afterwards that he didn’t think about the Six Nations Rugby match once! But I did catch myself wondering what the score was at intermission, ha. We made it home in time to catch the last 30 minutes of the game, where France disgraced England big time, but no matter. Apparently they have one last chance next weekend.

Oh and lest i forget to mention, even after a humiliating loss by his beloved homeland, my hubby still had the zest and energy to sing sweet words to me while getting ready for bed a la opera style! Yes, sing! And loudly!!! Where was a videocamera when i needed one?