Interval talks on the radio

[PhilipT]

And anyway, since they provide no alternatives, what are you supposed to do? I miss the days of nipping into the Circle ladies' loos and filling a bottle from the water fountain :( Not sure what's happened to those - whether they've actually been removed, or whether former ladies' are now gents' instead.

Water fountains were installed in some loos (for both sexes) for a while, and then removed. When I queried this I was told that the latest hygiene guidelines were that water fountains were not to be installed in loos. The bars should provide drinking water and plastic glasses at no charge - I hadn't noticed that that had changed this year, but I've not been as often as I'd've liked.

[Serial_Apologist]

Water fountains were installed in some loos (for both sexes) for a while, and then removed. When I queried this I was told that the latest hygiene guidelines were that water fountains were not to be installed in loos. The bars should provide drinking water and plastic glasses at no charge - I hadn't noticed that that had changed this year, but I've not been as often as I'd've liked.

Ridiculous. More likely, money wasn't being made on sales of bottled water.

[PhilipT]

Ridiculous. More likely, money wasn't being made on sales of bottled water.

I think you may be being unfair. The catering is contracted-out, so the RAH wouldn't get to see the profit. The Hall management are concerned for the welfare of the punters, and they're not keen on having people keel over. The reputational risk of having people fall sick would really concern them.

The professional advice seems to be clear enough: "It is also highly inadvisable to install a drinking fountain in toilet facilities, owing to the risk of cross contamination. When a toilet is flushed, airborne contaminants are released into the air and can infect anything they come across - including the mouthpiece of your drinking fountain." Taken from https://www.washwareessentials.co.uk...nking-fountain.

Also, see the paragraph beginning "Bacteriological results .. " on page 2 of this report published by the Drinking Water Inspectorate: http://www.dwi.gov.uk/research/compl...0buildings.pdf.

[Serial_Apologist]

I think you may be being unfair. The catering is contracted-out, so the RAH wouldn't get to see the profit. The Hall management are concerned for the welfare of the punters, and they're not keen on having people keel over. The reputational risk of having people fall sick would really concern them.

The professional advice seems to be clear enough: "It is also highly inadvisable to install a drinking fountain in toilet facilities, owing to the risk of cross contamination. When a toilet is flushed, airborne contaminants are released into the air and can infect anything they come across - including the mouthpiece of your drinking fountain." Taken from https://www.washwareessentials.co.uk...nking-fountain.

Also, see the paragraph beginning "Bacteriological results .. " on page 2 of this report published by the Drinking Water Inspectorate: http://www.dwi.gov.uk/research/compl...0buildings.pdf.

Then I withdraw my comment with apologies.

[Maclintick]

Not relevant to the topic

As you say, not relevant to the topic, but the radio interval "features", almost all recorded pre-concert in Imperial College, are very much a mixed bag IMHO, & sometimes fail to qualify as intermission "refreshment". A case in point was the plodding offering by Sean Williams (who he ?) prior to LVB9, replete with arch references to "fake news", & portentous actorly readings in the worst R4 house-style of writings by the composer's contemporaries. OTOH, the combination of Ian Skelly, DON, & Kate Kennedy on Elgar's "Enigma" was radio at its best, full of insights & surprises -- & DON singing, of course...

[Bryn]

Lat night's pre-prom talk was particularly annoying for me. Not a word about the music to be performed, just a couple of 'academics' and a presenter. none of whom appeared in the least bit interested in the work of Koechlin, let alone Varèse or Walton. Just reflections on their enthusiasms for Kipling and his Jungle Books. I walked out to rejoin the Arena day queue when it got to the second question from the floor (the first also having ignored the music).

[Sir Velo]

Last night's interval feature's subject was the craft of letter writing. You might therefore imagine that the guests would be selected on the basis of their proficiency in the English language. I was therefore looking forward to a scholarly discussion. This keen sense of anticipation lasted approximately thirty seconds until one of the two panellists introduced himself with the words "Myself and my girlfriend got to know each other by sending letters".

[alywin]

I noticed that, too. I didn't survive until the end of the talk - was the rest of it any better?

[Nick Armstrong]

Am I imagining it, or is this the first year Radio 3 has included the interval talks in the afternoon Proms repeats?

Thank you for saying this. It means I haven’t missed the chance to hear the Skelly/DON interval feature on Elgar in Prom 35. I saw that only the repeat is still on iPlayer, and assumed it wouldn’t include the talk - until I read your post and went back to find that the talk is indeed there

[alycidon]

Yes. Same here. Sorry, this was agreeing with an earlier post where the interval chats stopped the OP from working so they turned off!