I left Gloucester on Saturday morning via National Express bus and arrived at Heathrow Airport. My friend Joan Ishibashi met me at the Premier Inn and we took the local train into Ealing Broadway for one last dinner together.

My itinerary Saturday morning was a British Airways flight to Oslo, Norway, then a transfer to SAS to Bergen for a short jaunt west, where I boarded an airport shuttle bus after landing. I then took a taxi to the Zander K Hotel, even though the taxi driver warned me it was only around the block and he would have to charge me the minimum, 154 NOK, equal to $17.27—and because I didn’t want to schlep all my luggage, I agreed.

On Sunday morning I told a taxi driver I wanted to go to St Mary’s Church, and the driver wanted to know the address. As soon as I showed him the picture of the church (after Googling it), he knew right where to take me.

Roger Martin, who  manages the organists rota, met me straightaway and took me to the organ. It dates from 2014/2015 and is a beautiful instrument.

I quickly set up my pistons and reviewed the hymns, two of which were unfamiliar to me, and introduced myself to the priest, The Rev’d Kirk Weisz, who is originally from Tennessee!

If I do say so myself, the service went like clockwork. I even wrote out a short chorale prelude on the last hymn, SLANE, which people seemed to appreciate very much. I could see all the action down below via a closed-circuit video screen:

Here was my organ music today:

Organ prelude: Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (J. S. Bach)
Short organ prelude following tower bell ringing: Jesu, lover of my soul (Gerald Near)
Music during the distribution: Aria (Flor Peeters)
Organ postlude: Komm, heiliger Geist (J. S. Bach)

It was all just part of a handful of music I pulled in anticipation of possibly trying out organs in Kristiansand. As you may recall, I was not confirmed to play this service until three days ago (!) when I had already left Hawaii long before!

After the service, I went to the coffee hour and took pictures of several people.

The usher who handed me the service leaflet is Eirik Duerr, who lived in Hawaii with his wife for 13 years! They were formerly parishioners of Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, my first organ job in Hawaii (!) although they arrived in Hawaii after I had already left the parish.

They will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next year and hopefully, will celebrate it with their children, meeting in Hawaii! Ana was a member of the Holy Nativity Choir and when I mentioned the name Bob Nelson, the former choir director, her eyes lit up and said that Bob’s wife and she used to sing in the alto section! Small world! Ana also remembered coming to a choral event at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.

Roger Martin was kind enough to take me back to the Zander Hotel where I left my luggage and then took me to the Clarion Admiral Hotel where I will meet my tour group later in the day. What a nice gesture!

After I checked into the hotel, I went walking around Bergen in hopes of finding some lunch. I bought a six-piece sushi (really fresh!) and a cupful of mixed berries: strawberries, blueberries and raspberries … yum!

Luckily, the weather is beautiful here in Bergen! I unfortunately left my aqua rain jacket in airport security in Oslo (grrr…! not another lost item on a trip!) but luckily I packed a second jacket just in case.

So far I haven’t had to use it!