Houston

Right, as promised…the phone bills. Caroline went to check out this morning…imagine her surprise when she found $500 worth of phone calls from the boys’ rooms. The individual winner was one young chap who had racked up $94 for one 5 minute phone call. We had told the boys to phone home very quickly and ask you to phone back. Unfortunately, it would appear that the minimum charge for this is $14.96. Looking at the room bills, the two in Room 427 were the clear winners with $231 between them. Next, with a rather paltry $39.28 were the couple in Room 425. The two rooms with no charges were 418 and 402. The Radisson, although clearly a lovely hotel, does not hold back on their phone prices. Anyway, all ended happily when Caroline had a quiet, firm word with the girls on the front desk, who wrote off the entire amount. Phew indeed!

Following this calamity we have decided to radically change the Phoning Home Policy: Tomorrow, the boys should be in their rooms 12.30 – 13.00, GMT. On Wednesday, they should be in their hotel Rooms 12.00 – 12.30 GMT. Thereafter, the choristers will be staying in the dormitories of St Thomas’ Choir School and I doubt very much that there will be phones in the dorms. If any of the boys need to speak with you urgently, of course, they can phone home whenever, and all are aware of this.

We were sad to leave Austin with its bats, its catapults and its wonderful university. Hunter was there to wave us off and we will miss him.

The coach ride to Houston was fine and passed without major incident. The Wi-Fi on the bus crashed due to the sheer weight of traffic (the Gents had their laptops, you see, and some of the choristers decided to download free games onto their iTouches), but the signal lasted long enough for me to let certain boys know about Andy Carroll’s heroics against Man City. We stopped for lunch at Jason’s Diner, which was great, and then treated the boys to a quick shop in a 99 cent store. The problem with this was that the 99 does not include tax, so everything was actually $1.08 and this created mayhem at the tills. Some star purchases included: a straw hat; bottles of Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein aftershave (which smell like Fairy Liquid and Jiff, respectively); three rubber band balls that don’t bounce, and lots of t-shirts that don’t fit. Fortunately, it is a concert day so the boys were not able to purchase the 2 gallon bottles of coke and the monster packets of Life Saver sweets.

We have arrived at St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, which boasts the largest congregation of any Episcopal community in the US (7,500). There are 90 members of staff and the church is astonishing. Built in 2004 (the former church wasn’t big enough) it was constructed in 6 months and is copy of a gothic church but with a hint of space rocket about the spires. George Bush Senior worships here, apparently, although he’s not going to be at tonight’s concert.

That was a superb concert, helped by the marvelous acoustic. The audience took a while to warm up but by the end they were in complete awe. The boys were great during the reception, chatting to the punters and even signing autographs. Georgia tomorrow.