Obstacle race to Beethoven

I really don’t mean to grumble all the time but needs must! This year my season ticket to the auditorium gave me the possibility to hear Beethoven’s ninth on New Year’s Eve. Lovely, until…I caught a glimpse out of the speeding train of the magic stop Duomo but we sped by! Where was the train going then? Where would it stop?and why? Well it stopped at the next stop Cordusio and I got off only to find that piazza Duomo had been cordoned off for security reasons as they were holding the New Year’s Eve concert there. Unfortunately not just the metro was out of bounds but so was the tram I needed and heaven knows where the taxis were hiding. I asked an official -looking person how to get to the auditorium and he told me go to piazza Missouri, “just tag along behind those 4 people because they’re going too”. No not clairvoyant, they had just asked him for the same info.so I scurried along in their wake ,caught up with them and agreed that it was too far and too late to walk so they called a taxi. Of course when it eventually arrived it couldn’t take us all and although they kindly offered me a seat in it I could not decently accept to break up their group. So off I charged. Short legs, cold air, haste all combined to make things difficult. If only I had had more time! Anyway I trotted along thinking about what to do if I arrived late. Not very far before getting there there I caught up with a man who had overtaken me, he seemed some kind of official, to direct people to their destinations. Anyway, caution to the winds, trusting in my very un- frightening looks and in his not being a serial killer, I tapped on his car window and asked plaintively, if he could please take me to the autorium? No hesitation! He could, would and did. The difficult part was: what does one say? In the end a handshake sufficed. I was already reconciled with the world even before Claus Peter Flor’s wonderful rendering of the ninth! Happy New Year!