Mini detour

Detours don't need to be dramatic or exotic, but they do need to be! They are the salt to the beef of life!

Linsey (my wife) and I were in Northumberland recently - visiting the wonderful coast near the Farne islandshttp://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-farnes.htm . The one difficulty with NE England can be the weather! On this grey and mizzly day we decided to head for Newcastle and its quayside: complete with tilting Millennium Bridge, Baltic Arts Centre and SAGE performance space. To my mind these are every bit as fine as London's South Bank!

We wandered in to the SAGE only to find that there was 'nothing on'........so we detoured and ran across a very helpful usher who asked "are you here for the rehearsal"? Minutes later we sat down to listen to a 500 strong youth choir going through sections of Handel's Messiah. The following day they performed at the Proms in London! It was fascinating hearing how the conductor approached the task - cajoling some of the male singers - "a little more practice and a liitle less beer perhaps"! And circling round the stage as he demonstrated the emphasis on "all we like sheep have gone astray"!

Great stuff - a masterclass resulting from a detour. Aghhhhhh......
Please let's hear about your own detours....