After six hours sleep and breakfast, we drove home practicing the anthem 'And the glory of the Lord' from the Messiah, by singing along to it on YouTube in the car. After a late lunch, we collected our Christmas veggie bag and groceries. We were due at St Catherine's for a four thirty choir rehearsal ahead of a six o'clock Nine Lessons and Carol service. With all the rushing around we were both dog tired, and gave it our best effort, but three hours of singing felt more like an ordeal than a celebration.
A hundred adults and children turned up and the choir was double its usual numbers. Considering how under-rehearsed it was, the service went quite well, driven by Colin our director of music and organist at a brisk pace. Children were supposed to sing at the crib, but I'm not sure if many did, they were so quiet and just stared at the congregation, as if they were in a Nativity tableau. It might have been easier if they'd been encouraged to turn to the crib behind them. Room for improvement here for next year.
I couldn't help wondering about the spread of the omicron covid variant. Apart from the kids, everyone in church was masked, apart from choristers when singing, socially distanced, sort of. It seems however, that Wales infections are still predominantly the delta variant which hasn't yet been swamped by omicron. There are more new restrictions on public events and advice about domestic social mixing from Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, much clearer than the English government's comparatively muddled messaging. This won't have much impact on the majority of Christmas family gatherings. Use of lateral flow tests is recommended as a precaution, although there had been some supply issues, as the demand is naturally very high.
Today after three weeks of set-backs is having her engineer broken gas central heating boiler replaced at last. The incompetence with which British Gas dealt with her plight until she kicked up a rumpus is truly phenomenal. The equipment is being installed, but will anyone explain to her exactly and in detail how it works, and most importantly, can be controlled?
Yesterday night I received an email request to provide a job reference for Rufus, and drafted this after returning from the carol service, although I would preferred to go to bed early, but promised to deliver by tomorrow. I needed a brisk walk in the dark to rid myself of accumulated tension before turning in. Singing in the Parish Carol service after driving home with no respite in between was pretty exhausting. To be avoided with better planning in future. Christmas hasn't started yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment