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St Martin in the Fields Candlelight Concert

One of my favorite spots in London is Trafalgar Square. Emerging from the claustrophobic Underground into the openness of Trafalgar feels like being transported into the beating heart of London. Street musicians perform to the accompaniment of buzzing traffic and locals and tourists alike bustle around the square.

Nelson’s column pierces the sky, its feline guardians keeping watch while fountains mist the air. My eyes always go to the fourth plinth to admire its current occupant, which always seems out of place. Then, I admire the architecture surrounding the square from the neoclassical National Gallery and Admiralty Arch to the Christopher Wren inspired St. Martin in the Fields. Only after taking this inventory am I ready to proceed to our destination.

St. Martin in the Fields

This past Tuesday, our destination was St. Martin in the Fields, which regularly hosts classical music concerts. We had been meaning to find time to attend one but hadn’t yet. Then, a wonderful new friend offered us her tickets to Moonlight Sonata by Candlelight because she was unable to attend. We happily accepted her gracious offer.

St Martin in the Fields Candlelight Concert
St. Martin in the Fields

The church dates to at least 1222 but was rebuilt in 1542 at Henry VIII’s direction. It was rebuilt again in the 1720s, and that is the version standing today, after a recent renewal project. The church predates everything around it as it was originally quite literally in the fields outside of London. Today, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the city, it has adapted as an institution to its modern setting. The basement crypt holds a gift shop, box office, and café aptly named Café in the Crypt, which is where we decided to eat before the concert, along with a number of other concert goers as it turned out.

The Crypt

The crypt entrance is a modern glass cylinder adjacent to the church enclosing an elevator and short spiral staircase. A clever sign lists the benefits of using the steps and leaving the elevator for the less able. The large and modern lobby at the bottom of the stairs contains the box office and gift shop. The café is in the actual crypt with an arched and vaulted brick ceiling and tombstones in the floor. Many of the tombstones are too worn to read. The high ceiling with up lighting makes it an attractive and warm space despite its name. We took advantage of the two-course special with wine and dessert. I enjoyed delicious coq au vin with roasted squash while Kurt opted for the aubergine pasty with potatoes. We both enjoyed an apple crumble with custard for dessert.

  • St Martin in the Fields Candlelight Concert
    crypt ceiling
  • St Martin in the Fields Candlelight Concert
    Cafe in the Crypt
  • St Martin in the Fields Candlelight Concert
    tombstones in the crypt floor

An elderly woman was eating alone at the table next to us. After looking at us a few times, she asked me if I would watch her things while she used the toilet. She came back and asked how we enjoyed the apple crumble. She said that it’s her favorite but that they don’t always get it right. Before her husband passed away three years ago, they would share one. She was going to the concert and was delighted to learn we were as well. When she headed upstairs to the church, I watched her stooped figure climb the stairs. I wasn’t sure whether to feel sad for her possible loneliness or celebrate her continuing doing things she enjoys.

Climbing the steps up to the church, the cold night air and hum of the city washed down on us. After showing our tickets, we walked into the church for the first time. It’s even more beautiful inside. Dark wood pews and paneling contrast white columns supporting the arched ceiling with molded details and gold leaf accents. Six glass chandeliers illuminated the nave. Two large candelabras with enormous taper candles lit the sanctuary, and tealight candles scattered throughout the church provided a warm glow.

After collecting our seat cushions, an usher escorted us along the north aisle to our seats in the third row facing the keys of the piano. Warren Mailley-Smith would play for us. Only once seated did we see the enormous pipe organ above the entrance to the nave. Kurt observed that it must sound amazing. We agreed we’d have to look for an opportunity to return to hear it. While taking in the beauty of the setting, I noticed our neighbor from dinner at the front almost within arm’s reach of the body of the piano. I smiled to myself and celebrated.

Beautiful Music

The concert began promptly, and Mailley-Smith commented briefly on most of the pieces before he played them. His playing was magnificent throughout. A highlight from the first half was Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 2, which delighted everyone in attendance and conjured visions of Tom and Jerry cartoons. Kurt observed that everyone was smiling during that piece. Another favorite of mine was the joyful Wedding Day at Troldhaugen by Edvard Grieg.

After the interval, we were treated to a small assortment of Chopin pieces, but the highlight of the second half was the last two pieces. The penultimate piece was Sergei Rachmaninov’s Prelude Op 3 no 2 in C sharp minor. Mailley-Smith noted before playing it that one only needs hands large enough to reach across an octave to play the piano; however, Rachmaninov had unusually large hands and could reach much farther than that. Because of that, he wrote music that he could comfortably play but which presents a great challenge to other pianists. I watched in awe as Mailley-Smith’s hands flew across the keys without seeming to touch them yet yielded beautiful music. The finale was George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, another audience favorite that left everyone smiling.

A Church with Something for Everyone

It was an enchanted evening layered in beauty, and we are extremely grateful to our benefactor. The church is well worth a visit. In addition to evening concerts, the church offers tours, free lunch-time concerts as well as periodic talks and of course, church services. The church is known for its long-standing homeless outreach programs, which may be why its crypt toilet facilities are open to the public (no fee is charged, but a small donation is requested). So, if you find yourself in Trafalgar Square, surely at least one of those attractions will entice you to St. Martin in the Fields.

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For Better, For Worse, For Easier, For Harder

One of the first observations I made about living in England versus the US was that it’s an odd mix of things that are better/easier and things that are worse/harder. Americans seem to assume that everything in the US is better, but we can tell you that isn’t true. Sure, some things are great in the US and we miss those things a lot (Mexican food is the first thing that comes to mind, although I think Mexico gets the credit for that). But, there are plenty of things here that we already know we’ll miss when we go home.

Kurt wrote about how great public transportation is, but I have to give it another shout out. It’s just so easy to get almost anywhere you need to go. It’s inexpensive, easy, safe, and clean. It’s not perfect, of course, there are occasional delays, and in the summer, it can be hot and smelly on a crowded tube train. Transport for London regularly reminds passengers to carry water with them on the train, which I also recommend—along with wearing deodorant but not cologne or perfume (please and thank you).

Despite great public transit, we’re looking forward to getting a car, which brings me to the next great thing. If you’ve ever been in the car when I drove around the only roundabout (rotary for New Englanders) I know of in San Diego County, you know how much I love them and loathe drivers who don’t know how to use them (which seems to be the majority of Americans). They’re efficient and they’re everywhere here, and everyone knows how to use them!

Speaking of driving, we’ve observed that drivers here are more courteous than in the US. I find that drivers here tend to be more cooperative than competitive, which seems to be the most popular driving style in the US. Drivers here don’t have an “I own this road” mentality and work together to keep traffic moving. Sure, we’ve seen some crappy driving, but far less than in the states.

We can drive on our US licenses for a year, but then we must have a UK license. I’ve started the process to get one already. I don’t know about other states, but I’m certain the California DMV is one of Dante’s nine circles of hell. I didn’t have to set foot in any such place to get a provisional UK driving license though. I completed an online application and paid a fee. They mailed me the official application to sign and return with a recent passport-style photo and my ID (I had to mail the actual ID, and yes, that made me nervous). Within a few days, I had a provisional driving license and my ID back.

I still have to take both the written (theory) and driving tests to be fully licensed. The theory test covers not just the rules of the road and road signs, it also includes a hazard perception test. The driving test is harder than in the US (the pass rate is much lower, which may explain the better drivers). We both plan to take a couple lessons with an instructor to make sure we pass on the first go. We don’t want to find out how embarrassing it would be to fail.

Air conditioning is another thing we miss. It’s humid here, and almost nothing is air conditioned. Certainly not our house. Although, on the bright side, places that are air conditioned aren’t kept so cold you start looking forward to going back out in the heat to thaw out. They cool it just enough to barely be comfortable. Energy is expensive here, so they don’t waste it.

But, because of that humidity they have towel warmers. A warm towel after a shower is just about the best thing ever. We’re going to miss that for sure.

We’ve had a bank account here for three months and haven’t paid a penny in fees, not even for a supply of checks (cheques). There’s no minimum balance requirement to avoid fees either. In the US it seems banks and credit unions order how things clear to maximize fees. Here, the only overdraft “fee” is the interest charge on the outstanding amount until it’s repaid, which seems fair and if a debit clears before a deposit on the same day, there’s no charge. But, interest rates are much higher than in the US—heart-stoppingly higher. We’ve seen rates from 39% for a store card to 1,349% for a payday loan.

Opening a bank account is much harder though; we spent three hours on the phone and an hour in the branch. Tip for anyone moving to the UK from the US: open a bank account with any bank that has a presence in both countries before you move (HSBC is good one). Electronic banking security in Britain is lightyears ahead of the US, for better and for worse. Better in that our accounts are secure. Worse in that we can’t remember the multitude of codes, keys, PINs, and passwords, and they don’t ask for a full password, they ask for different characters from your password each time you log in.

Cell phones (mobiles) are so much less expensive. We were paying $85 each per month for unlimited calls and texts and six gigs of data. It’s entirely likely we could’ve saved a few bucks if we shopped around, but not as much as we’re saving here. We’re paying about $35 total per month for basically the same service and there’s no contract.

Sales tax (VAT) is included in prices, so you know exactly how much something costs. If it says £10, it’s £10. No more calculating in your head how much 7.65% sales tax is on that $87 item.

But, there are weird things that you can buy almost anywhere in the US that are hard to find here. I wanted to buy a little bottle of isopropyl rubbing alcohol. At home, I could go to any grocery or drug store and spend less than a dollar. Here, I had to order it online and pay almost $5 (it is purposefully made difficult to acquire because desperate alcoholics might drink it). Ammonia was only slightly easier to buy.

Coming from San Diego, we’re used to being able to find a store open somewhere at any time of day. You might drive a little farther and pay a little more, but you can get almost anything at any time. Here, most stores close by five or six and many don’t even open on Sunday, and if they do, they close very early. I see positives and negatives to that, but I do miss the convenience.

I think the biggest thing we miss is just the familiarity of knowing how things work and what to do or who to call if they don’t. Things are just different enough to make everything a little harder; it’s kind of like being a young adult figuring out how to do things for yourself all over again. And, as George Bernard Shaw once said, England and America are two countries divided by a common language.