My Cell Phone

I usually embrace new technology, but this has not been true of my cell phone. I like my telephone to ring when I am at home. I don't want to know it is ringing when I am in the public sector. But yesterday, at the extremely long red light on Crowchild and 24th Avenue, I picked up my phone to hear Doral saying he was in Calgary and going to visit Kelvin. I had to tell him that I was on my way to meet Kelvin at the opera and that Doral's only chance to see him, would be to meet us at the opera. 

I was making a joke for Doral. The light at the intersection changed.

I put the phone down.

Serena Zerlina and Simon Keenlyside 
in the title role of Don Giovanni at the Met. 
Photograph: Marty Sohl/ Metropolitan Opera

Doral's meetings were shortened in the first instance of his meetings and moved up in the second instance, and so he got to the opera and joined Kelvin and me.

The performance was sold out. Not even a single empty seat up in the better seats. Only the front two rows were empty and in an IMAX theatre those are not two rows that anyone wants to be sitting in.

I slipped down to one of them so that Doral could sit by Kelvin.

At the intermission Doral told me that he was 20 minutes into the opera before he even knew the name of what he was watching.  That made me laugh.  We talked at length about the beauty of the music, the complicated themes, the exquisite costuming and the superb acting.

Doral had to get on the road back to Edmonton before the opera was over so he saw 2 1/2 of the 3 1/2 hour opera.  Something is better than nothing.

I cannot remember seeing Mozart's Don Giovanni before so the pleasure was double for me: a new opera and family at my side.

Arta