Cambridge Brass

I went back to Cambridge at the weekend. I think it's the first time I've been down there since around 2000, or possibly 2001. Either way, it's quite some years. I was at university there so I know the city reasonably well. Or at least I thought I did. I navigated to the hotel easily enough, but then I started to remember places I used to go to, but then realised I wasn't 100% sure of the directions any more. Example: I remembered a pub by the river called The Mill, but I couldn't quite remember how it fitted into the city. How time destroys the old grey cells. Finding it actually turned out to be quite straightforward once I was actually out walking around (It's on Mill Lane), but I still felt a little disconcerted.

Most of the colleges are closed to visitors at the moment to give the lazy students a bit of peace and quiet whilst they study for their exams. I might have been able to get into them if I'd remembered to take a university membership card or something like that, but I hadn't so that was that. I did have a wander up to my old college, Selwyn though. It hasn't changed much, from the outside at least.



They have begun to construct a whole new court next to the main part of the college. It's coming on well and seems to fit in well with the architectural style of the older parts (apart from horrid looking Cripps Court over the road). It was nice to see it in real life rather than just photos on the internet.

The reason I was in Cambridge was though completely unrelated to me being a past student there. My girlfriend's sister was competing in the confusingly named All England Masters International which is a brass band competition. And it is certainly not comprised only of teams from England, or even the UK. Odd.

A brass band competition seems to comprise of (in this case) 21 bands who all play the same 15 minute long piece. Yesterday it was Paganini's Variations (you know it - it's the one that goes Da da da da da da da da da da). If you have a good ear and are familiar with brass then you might be able to spot differences between the bands. To me though they all sounded pretty similar.

Well, ok, I didn't actually sit through all 21 of them. We left after the first two (which included the one we had gone to watch). But they both sounded fine to me. I think if I'd had to sit and listen to all of the bands I might have gone a little insane. Nobody should have to sit through something like that.

The worst thing was however the price. Sixteen pounds. Each! Arguably that's good value if you sit through all six hours of the competition, or however long it lasts for, but still... Sixteen pounds! They weren't even the best seats - we were near the back of the balcony!