It was excitement to be invited for a
private poetry reading being new to British accent and still hardly get the
real one but a ground for me to really take heart of the beauty of the so
called “received pronunciation”. I was hesitant at first but because there will
be only few British people, around 20. I accepted.
It was August 14 and rode alone instead
of the transport provided going to Somerset Lodge in Tagayatay along Aguinaldo
Highway. We were provided a space to sleep on until the following day but
decided to go home after the party.
It was 7pm when everybody was around.
There was a brief cocktail with a foreign pianist playing all classical music.
Around 8pm when the head of British Council did an introductory speech and the
first reader from Manchester, England did a short poem but very touching then
followed by someone from London, I suppose because of the typical accent,
delivered her part longer than expected with that casual manner of delivery with
cadence. Next in line is a Filipina with that awesome perfect British accent
and heard that she graduated at Oxford University, one of the best schools in
the United Kingdom then my turn delivering the piece handed me with utmost care
especially the British r to sound authentic even being a Filipino.
The reading was over after an hour and
dinner was served with casual getting together. British people are warm like
us, not the typical snobs as we thought them to be. They are very casual in
manners.
I left the place around midnight
bringing with me a certain kind of memory that at last, I discovered a certain
class of people.