Truly horrified to hear of the terrible bus crash in Ecuador that killed five Gap Year girls and injured 12 others. I knew Joshua was OK as he was visiting the city of Cuenca but his charity Outreach International rang this morning as there was a group of their volunteers in the same place at that time. Such a dreadful waste of life as these volunteers are fabulous people. I have met quite a few of the people Thomas volunteered with in Zimbabwe all those years ago and they are terrific. I can sort of imagine what it must be like to lose a child having lost both my parents when they were in their early sixties. You do stop crying every day but the loss never disappears and there are so many things you would like to show them and talk about.
We listened to Mozart’s Requiem last night from the 2006 Proms. It was done with early instruments, pity the poor bloody trombone players with no valves. The choir and soloists were very good even through the awful sound quality of the television. We also watched a programme about Sacred music which majored on Bach that was fascinating. I love church music, the only marvellous thing about the institution as far as I am concerned.