Four Recorders and a Quiz

Spring term at the Ecole Gaulier begins, and so today feels like back to a normal routine after Christmas. Last week was quiet, but we were quite strict with ourselves about getting up and being a bit useful. I was thinking about a book idea that I was keen to work on, and the freezingness outside has made the flat an appealing place to be. We've had a few visits from a Japanese friend of Richard's from Gaulier, coming for some English conversation practise. On her last visit she brought us homemade sushi and two beautiful pairs of chopsticks made by her friend from home. My favourite pair have eyes, and look like long skinny fish.

Yesterday we went to the Swedish Church, north west of the Champs-Elysees, to see a recorder (flute a bec) concert. We met Alex and Lily beforehand to have tea in the cafe of the Swedish Church. We all agreed it was a really lovely place - very cosy and welcoming, with reasonably priced tea and free biscuits, filled bookshelves, pretty decoration and an atmosphere of friendliness. How great to be Swedish in Paris and have such a nice place to go. There was a large group of young women playing Trivial Pursuits, lots of portraits of honourable looking Swedes and a photo of the attractive royal couple above the tea things.

We'd come to see two friends of Richard's parents playing in a recorder quartet. I really enjoyed their music, especially the Scott Joplin rag that they played. It was interesting seeing all the different types of recorders they kept producing; a few were enormous and one was shaped a bit like a saxophone - a far cry from the primary school ones you could play with your nose. You'd need a sneezing fit to get a peep out of one of these bad boys! When they stood up at the end, we could see that they were all wearing black, with white cuffs and collars, matching the recorders. The only downer was leaving behind my new earmuffs, which I made a mess of describing over the phone today, and which I'm fast losing hope of recovering... no insinuations, but Sweden is very cold after all...

If we were slightly on the outside of things at the Swedish Church cafe, the same could not be said of our next stop: The Highlander, your Scottish pub in Paris. We went there to meet some people from Langue Onze and have a bash at the weekly pub quiz. We came second! Out of four, but still. To celebrate here is an approximation of a question I got right:

What animal has the following varieties: Leghorn, Rhode Island Red and Ancona?