A Cultured Mouse

I attended a concert conducted by the delightful Sue Perkins. It was held at the Barbican, a London venue I've often read about but not been to before. It's a sprawling building with multiple auditoriums. The atmosphere was festive and the evening's music proved to be very delightful. Sue's energy was fantastic and despite having a restricted view, we had front row seats that still afforded us a decent enough view of half the orchestra.

There was some bonus entertainment during the night in the form of a mouse. The little creature was under the edge of the stage and during the second half of the performance it began peaking out and attempting to make it's way across the floor to get out one of the fire exit doors. The problem with this plan was all of us sitting in the front row, including one woman who had an obvious fear of the small creature as her legs involuntarily jumped the first five or six times the mouse made an appearance.

Soon, however, the woman relaxed and the mouse almost became a part of the performance. The poor wee thing was missing one of it's hind feet and it did the sweetest little sideways run when it emerged from the shadows of the stage. It ran up and down the length of the stage on the side we were sat and proved to be a source of entertainment and delight for several other concert goers.

I have to say, whilst it was brilliant to see Sue Perkins conduct, and whilst the delightful music of Tchaikovsky definitely began putting me in a Christmas mood, it was probably the antics of the little cultured mouse that most made that evening for me.