I’m home from England now (dammit), so I have a bit of time to do my reflection post.

This A-Z has been difficult.  Not because I have been traveling, or because I worked remotely while traveling, or even because I didn’t plan a strategy as thoroughly as I did last April.

This happened.

Yesterday was such a long day.  My plane left at four, and I went back through several time zones and arrived the same evening at ten.  I had time to finish Broadchurch series two and watch Interstellar on the plane and barely made my connection.

And apparently, jet lag from time traveling makes me clumsy.  I decided to go out and get some groceries after arriving home.  I put my foot down wrongly on the Crumbling Albatross’s deteriorating front steps and tumbled down them, landing half on the pavement and half on the lawn.

I’d post a pic of my gory skinned knee, but it’s pretty gross, so here is an adorable kitten instead.

Image:  pinterest.com

No, it’s been difficult because I’m not organized overall.  Something tells me that it’s time to fall back and regroup.  However, despite the hapless flapping about, I did have some productive moments the last two weeks.

• I started to get a good sense of the period by reading old newspapers in the British Library. (Also, I’m chuffed as hell that I have a reader’s pass to one of the largest research libraries in the entire world.  I feel so intellectual, heh heh.)

• I found a market at St. James’ Church on Piccadilly and bought some old coins that Brit Character might have had in his pocket at the time.

The sixpence always makes me think of Paddington.

Image: Peggy Fortnum / paddington.com

• I got to know London a little better–at one point, I just ended up wandering around an area and realized that I could find my way back if I got lost, because I knew roughly where I was in the first place. Plus, I felt more confident there and had less need to plan out every step of every journey.

I think the recent heartbreak had something to do with the disorganization.  But it has mostly passed (mostly).  It’s time to untangle the knot of information I’ve gleaned and try to make something out of it.

Next year, I’d like to do an A-Z similar to the character one.  I’ll be thinking about it in plenty of time.

IT’S THE END OF THE CHALLENGE!  And I am completely zapped.  I can’t even believe I finished this time.

Once again, this kitty perfectly expresses my feelings.

I’m back in the British Library, reading more newspapers in the Newsroom.  I’m wearing my scarf around me like a shawl; they won’t let you take coats into the reading rooms, and it’s freezing in here.  In fact, it’s been cold this week, and the bank holiday weekend promises to be even cooler.  I forgot to wear a jumper today, too.

That’s not freezing, but it’s not warm either.

Image:  accuweather.com

I’ll probably bail soon and go visit Word on the Water again.  My time here, though short, has been fruitful–I’ve made enough notes on things I can research elsewhere, and I do need to do some field research, and walk around in actual places.

London Transport Museum might be on the agenda as well.  If not this visit, then perhaps another time.  I have a source, a lovely British gentleman I met online through a photos page on Facebook, who has a keen interest in British transport and is from London originally, about the time I’m researching.

We’re not meeting in person this visit, because he lives too far from here, and I have neither the time nor the money to travel outside the city.  But he’s agreed to answer questions via email.

Once I’ve posted this post and possibly the A-Z Reflection, don’t expect to hear from me until I get back.  I’ll have a review of both legs–overnight and not–of my British Airways flights for you, complete with pictures (!).

See you soon.

A new trend sweeping soundtrack concerts is to show the film with dialogue and sound effects but no score, and below it, a live orchestra plays the music along with it.  My soundtrack nerd friends and I watched the last reel of E.T The Extraterrestrial this way at the John Williams concert a few years ago, but I’ve never seen a whole film this way.

Until now!

Titanic is one of my favorites, and the concert did not disappoint.  It took place at the Royal Albert Hall, one of London’s most historic (and beautiful) venues.

Photographs and videos in this post by Elizabeth West unless otherwise specified

Here’s the outside.

And here’s the inside.

James Horner, composer of the Titanic score (yes, he wrote the song too), was supposed to conduct, but due to a shoulder injury, he was unable to do so.  Ludwig Wicki (say it like Vicky) took over for him admirably.

Instead of just bailing on the thing, Horner and Titanic producer Jon Landau did a Q&A interview live before the concert, a bit early.  The audience for that was sparse–I suppose most people didn’t check their email, or perhaps they couldn’t get off work in time.  All ticket holders for the event could attend.

Here’s a picture of the panel.  I forget the guy’s name who did the questions, and I didn’t get a souvenir program, dammit.

Then, the film!

Image:  fanpop.com

Normally, I watch Titanic on the anniversary of the sinking, but I skipped it this year because of the concert.  I know this film and its score by heart.  I know where every crescendo belongs; when I listen to the score, I see the film in my head.

The orchestra followed it perfectly.  They had a singer for the vocal instrumentation (the melody line parts in the score are vocal, in case you didn’t know), along with the Tiffin Boys’ Choir.  At times, I found myself sucked into the film and forgot that I was sitting in a concert hall and that there was a whole orchestra in front of me.

At the end of the interview, Horner dropped a bombshell–there was a very special guest attending the screening.  And he did make an appearance at the end.  Who was it?

JAMES CAMERON!!!

Yes, the director of Titanic!

I dived for my phone and caught a little of his appearance.  You see him with Wicki at first, with Landau in the back, and then that’s Horner he bro-hugs at the end.  I apologize for the poor quality; I didn’t bring my actual camera.

That was a moment, I tell you.

I really enjoyed this show at the Albert Hall.  I would love to go back again.

Here is an interview with James Horner about the concert.  He talks about some of the things he discussed at the venue, and film scoring for Avatar, Avatar II, and in general.

And now it is past midnight and I am going to sleep.  Good night!

I got a late start today–seriously, if you want to go anywhere in this city, you really can’t wait until afternoon to move.  Still, I did get one important thing done.

Look familiar?

Image:  Jack1956 / Wikimedia Commons

The British Library!  This is the bit at St. Pancras.  I now have a reader pass, so I can access the collections for Secret Book stuff.  I also visited the Treasure Gallery, and I saw:

• A Gutenberg Bible
• A bunch of Anthony Trollope’s correspondence and books
• The first manuscript of Beowulf
• A music notebook that belonged to Beethoven (!!!)

Huge fan, I am. <3

 Image:  Jaeger, 1818 / Wikimedia Commons

The library has a collection of periodicals, and they indicated I might find useful materials in the Humanities and Newspapers collections as well.  I didn’t have time to do anything today, so I’ll go back early next week and spend a whole day there. (That means the tube at morning and evening rush hour.  Oh, joy.)

My reader pass is good for a whole year, so if I come back before next April, I’m good.

Between this and working remotely (yes, I’m really doing that), I’m not really on vacation, am I?

I made it; and I’m bushed.  Also, I had to work remotely for a few hours.  S post tomorrow, along with T post.