In Adelaide recently, we went for a bite to eat at a café that sells mostly edible food. After ordering, they gave us a strange thing that looked like a mini space ship, which started flashing red lights and beeping uproariously a little later – this meant our order was ready, and we’d better hurry up and go get it before it gets cold. This saves the café the cost of a waiter, but it doesn’t make the food any cheaper.
Later we were about to leave a rather dull little
museum when we heard beautiful piano music, and thought there must be a concert
rehearsal going on nearby. We followed
the music through various corridors, nearly being lifted off our feet with the
sheer delight of it. Soon we came to a
stairway that went up, to our surprise, into the State Library, and there in an
otherwise deserted corner, was a grand piano and a young woman playing
beautiful strains of Bach. We wafted
towards her and gave her a round of applause when she finished the piece. An
interesting conversation ensued, and we were amazed to learn that Fiona, for
that is her name, is not a professional musician as we had supposed, but a
piano student who has only reached Grade 2!
She works nearby and comes to the Library in her lunch breaks to play
the piano because she loves it so much. She must be quite gifted, we cooed. “No,”
she protested weakly, “I just have a good memory, and I love it! I work nearby and come here in my lunch
breaks to play, because I want to play piano all the time!”
Tony had never played a grand piano before, and
Fiona was happy to give up her place on the bench for a minute or two so he
could have a go. He found it quite
different from his electronic keyboard at home, but produced some very nice
chords which prompted Fiona to say that he must have had some training – that
pleased him no end! We considered adopting Fiona, and the piano, but we soon
came to our senses, and continued our wander around Adelaide.
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