Saturday, May 19
British Embassy, 13:00
I finally gave up and got out of bed at 6:45. I had managed to sleep until about 3:30 and after that I slept in short bursts between bouts of entertainment organised by the cat. At 6:40 he stood on his hind legs at the side of the bed and beginning nudging me with his head.
I let him out, showered, had breakfast, and did the usual Saturday morning cleaning. At about 11:00 Irma arrived in a taxi and I helped her carry her cases into the house.
She arrived tired but elated. She had sat next to Yo Yo Ma on the flight back, after meeting famous people in the JFK lounge. She had been backstage at the Metropolitan Opera house with Joel Brody, who had got her and Mutaqi tickets for a performance of Giselle, and then taken them there by yellow cab and subway. She had visited Ideo and left impressed. In addition to that she and Mutaqi had performed onstage during the main presentations and Joel had said they seemed the only ones with any life in them.
We unpacked and then we changed and got ready for the garden party in the British Embassy.
At 12:30 we collect Naa and Sampo from Naa’s apartment and drive to the embassy. We walk in and say hello to Tom Dodd and then hello to the other Tom and Maisa. We have brought blankets and settle down on the grass. Then we go and get out tea and biscuits. I eat my first strawberries of the season.
We perk up a bit when the address by Bishop Michael Curry of the American Episcopal Church started. It was a fifteen minute hot gospel performance that started with a quote from Martin Luther King and ended by referencing Teillhard de Chardin. A version of Stand By Me, performed a capella by a gospel choir, followed.
We will return Naa and Sampo to Naa’s and then go home to do a few things in the garden.
At 20:20 Irma will decide that she has had enough and needs immediate sleep. Fortunately Sunshine has done his bit to ensure that I feel pretty similar, and so we will wash, crawl into bed, and sleep for fourteen hours.