h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, whaddayaknow. It's Christmas next week and I am caught with my pants down again. It's not my fault - I am just so long at work and the shops have such short opening times that I never get to go to them. I have taken today (Wednesday) and tomorrow and Friday off, as I am working next week - to get Christmas preparations done while the rest of the family is still at school/uni/work. Well - it starts with today, and I've got to go in to work. Just so much to do, and one or two things have to be ready for a shipment we're loading for India on Friday.

Never mind - I am in three choirs still and there's plenty of Christmas spirit there.

Choir 1 is the local church choir. Well, it's not actually, but the official Church choir is without a conductor and the one I sing in was originally the Youth Choir, but everyone in it is at least 30 now because they've been together so long.

We are doing Christmas Mass *and* putting on a concert on 28th, so there's plenty of festive repertoire. We are doing a lovely sung version of the reading from the Gospel according to St Luke. The priest who's coming to take Mass (we do not only not have a conductor for the choir, we don't even have our own priest) has a beautiful voice - he should have taken up singing professionally. So that will be very gratifying and moving.

German Christmas Carols are all about Joy and what-have-you, but to my ears they all sound very funereal. Our choir has introduced "Noel, Noel" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" into its Christmas repertoire and when we sing them for the first time each year, I have a good blubber. Then it's Christmas.

In another Choir we had a big concert in October. We didn't do anything special for Christmas, although we did a little recital last year and sung some of the Rutter songs which have recently come out in German versions. The translations are very good.

Choir 3. Then at school I couldn't resist joining in too. The music teacher there is very very popular - always gets standing ovations from pupils of all ages. And their Mums and Dads, whom he mostly also taught when they were at school, as he is over 60 and will be leaving soon. He is irreplaceable. The concert was last night, so, really, that choir has finished its course.

We put on a Nativity Play with music by Orff with the youngest pupils, and sung a Gloria by Mozart which I ought to recognise but I can't say which Mass it's from, sorry. Was lovely. The school orchestra played a couple of pieces, one of which was a Christmas medley, arranged specially by above-mentioned music teacher.

The Nativity Play was lovely - I bored everyone on Zarquon's Singing Fish's space about it.....

It was very funny among other things because they had translated it into the local dialect, which, being a country area, fitted very well with the conversation of the shepherds, as they did all the talking. It somehow wouldn't have come off in a Berlin or Hamburg accent! The angels spoke and sang High German of course. Or Latin, as is usual with Orff.

It was really great fun to do and good also even if your own little darling wasn't an angel or a shepherd.

The Three Kings, after paying their "reverences" made a quick getaway and the shepherds had a good go at how the rich never thought much. Just dumped a load of gold and went off leaving the family in the stable.

"If I had had the money, I would have put Jesus on a lovely throne and would have built a palace of gold for Mary. And I would have given Joseph a workshop with golden hammers and pliers and nails of ivory".

A good time was certainly had by all. The adult choir sang some Mozart and a couple of Gospel songs with the senior choir and the senior choir sung a Christmas lullaby by Rutter.......

And the Church choir in the local town (No. 4) are singing Schubert's Mass in G which I will now go along and support as they keep advertising for voices. They're singing that the day after Boxing Day at High Mass. I think. It might just be a concert. Anyway, the Church has good acoustics and the choir is really weak, so I shall see what I can make of that.

Then there's our Advent Window scheme in the village. The churches have got together and each evening, meet at someone's house. There are anything from 10 - 40 people, depending on the locality, the date, and possibly the weather.

People decorate their windows and a small committee of young women organise it and arrange a small service with prayer, song, a story or a reading each night. The hostess has decorated her window with cut-out figures or with candles, electric lights, or arranged some decorations in a 3-D display. We gather in front of the window and someone says a few words and we sing a song, then another reading - a poem or something - and then we sing another song while the window is lit from behind and the shutterrs opened to display the window. After a couple more songs, a prayer and a story, the little group breaks up. Rules have been set like: Do not offer food and drink/do not use blinking lights/do not depict the Nativity/please display your number/please leave your window on display - lit with the shutters open - for the rest of Advent.

So since 30 November we have had a window at 6 pm every night. I have been to a few, one I did myself - i.e. I decorated the window and read all the texts - and one more I am doing the readings and songs but it's at someone else's house.

Apart from that, I haven't bought or written a single Christmas card, packed a single present - haven't even bought most presents.... Any ideas for a couple of 85-year-olds who really don't want anything?

Perhaps I should just go and visit them. Maybe I could incorporate the January meet.... but by the time I get round to it the cheap prices on Ryanair will no longer be applicable.

Better toddle off and find out when the meet is.---

The London meet is 10 January. In the afternoon, some of us are visiting the Science Museum while others are getting in a few early drinks. In the evening we will be meeting in a pub in High Holborn, and there'll probably be a quiz.

I'm surprised that you have problems getting to the shops. Here in Ireland, the shops go overboard on staying open late, some of them staying open 24 hours a day!

Enjoy the singing! Our choir has finished for the year, with Messiah and a Christmas Carols concert. The local church choir have enlisted our help for the Christmas Eve carol service.

Thank you for reading my journal - I had some qualms about inflicting that lot on the world. My husband suspects that I am doing all I can to stay out of the house. Maybe he's right. Maybe I'm just getting more and more addicted to singing. It's certainly the only thing that cheers me up and makes me feel part of the world.

I have lots of overtime to use up - so maybe I can take a long weekend and meet you all on 10 Jan. Thanks for letting me know. ....

"It's Christmas next week and I am caught with my pants down again." who do you tell that? For me it's the same procedure as every year - plans to go shopping in September, and of course I end up being busy in the last few days.

"German Christmas Carols are all about Joy and what-have-you, but to my ears they all sound very funereal." - Not only in your ears, and it's not only the Christmas Carols. The church is all about the 'frohe Botschaft' (The Gospel, eu-angelion, The Merry Message or whatever it's called) but the music is very much the opposite.

What really cheered me up this year was listening to the performance of the 'Mozartband' They are built around the people who started 'Alpenrock' (rock/pop with a good measure of austrian/bavarian folk tunes and instruments thrown in) some 10 years ago, and now they have sort of 'translated' Mozart's music into our days. Perhaps it's nothing for purists and Gnomon might turn away in disgust (what with an aria sung to the sounds of an accordion, a bassoon, and a bass guitar) but rest assured, Hubert von Goisern and Wolfgang Staribacher really know their stuff. I enjoyed it immensely and that's what counts. I think you'd surely like it too!

I have to admit this was all quite educating reading. It even lead me to think that I should go to listen some Christmas concert.
And I all those people who can sing.

Merry Christmas!

I'm not in any choir at the moment, TC, so I rather envy you being in three. Not that I have time for choir singing at the moment, being rather too busy with little . I've not even been to a carol concert either, although I do hope to get to one.

I don't think anyone was bored with your description of the Nativity Play. It sounded really brilliant.

Frohe Botshaft - happy news?

Yes, 'happy news' might be it I've searched my favourite http://dict.leo.org/ but it wouldn't tell me what the main point of the New Testament is called in English.

I'm not sure there is a neat phrase to summarise the point of the New Testament off-hand, Bossel.

I like the sound of the music you heard, though. I'm sure I'd have enjoyed it!

Unfortunately I missed the highlight of my Christmas this year - on the Third Sunday in Advent the Anglican community in Heidelberg have the whole works - Carol service with 9 readings.

Frohe Botschaft is, translated, I supposed, the happy message - but it translates best as "Good News". (A gospel song which I have sung in 2 choirs this Christmas - not quite sure why they consider it's a Christmas song here - there's no mention of Christmas in it at all - it's about dying and going to heaven and getting yourself a harp and a pair of wings.)

Well - here comes my chariot - I'd better get on it and go downstairs and write some more Christmas cards.......!

Hi Bossel!!!!!!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Hey - everyone here's on line!!!!!

How will you be celebrating in Estonia Hati?

Church tomorrow, dinner at my moms - like evry year. I have to lead the radio broadcast from our local church though. A lutherian church it is. If the weather will not turn worse (we have a terrible snow storm atm) we'll also go to my father's grave to light the candle there.
That's the festive part. Also my firewood will be delivered on wednesday, so from thursday on I'll be working in my backyard and shed.

Did I say tomorrow? Well, it *is* past midnight already but in general I meant wednesday.

We've had snow today, too.

(You'd probably laugh at what we call snow. )

Are most Estonians Lutheran?

We had a whole national disaster. The traffic was down and it all looked like a bad american movie. It was not only the snow but the temperature was +2C in the morning and -8C by now. It was about 50cm snow coming down today.

Yes, I'd say it's mostly Lutheran. Exept that about 80% of the population doesn't belong to any church. But lot of them will go to church on Christmas Eve.

Oh yeah, I'm anticipating a Munich traffic disaster tomorrow. We got some 15 cm of snow today and snow in winter is always a biiiig surprise for Munich's car drivers (ahem...)

ZSF, the Mozartband 'Soul' CD can be found at Amazon for 16?. That is, *today* it's 16?. I seem to remember that in December they offered 'Soul' for 12?. On the premises they charged me 17?. Anyway, I'd say it's worth the money!

Hi Bossel -

I distinctly remember a Bavarian telling me that the people here in the sunny South West had no idea how to deal with snow - in Munich it was a regular occurrence and traffic hold-ups because of it were unknown.

Now you're telling me that Munich panics when the snow falls!

(hihihi - I always thought the Bavarians were too full of themselves!)

Ha ha, that bavarian surely came from the propaganda department! It's the same story year and year again, with road services being ill prepared to be there in the morning before the first cars have condensed the fresh snow into ice, people who haven't changed their tires, people who haven't heard the weather report and thus don't start 10 minutes earliear than usual etc, etc. It's true that the main traffic paths are cleared very soon, but things get bad as soon as you leave them. For instance, they don't use salt on minor roads (which they might well do IMHO) but they *should* put some onto the last 50 metres ahead of traffic lights. As things are, you're standing on an ice plate, the gravel has already been pushed aside, the light turns green and none of the cars up front starts moving until the light is red again. Then you've got two cars standing inside the junction, at right angles with the traffic in it, and lots of hooting and shouting

Snow forecast for tomorrow, but not yet here.

I'll have a look for that CD, Bossel!

Fine!

I still can't wait until they've got the recordings from the Munich performances processed and put on CD. They said 'early in 2004'

Umm, could it be that the Euro sign doesn't work?

It did occur to me that there was no currency specified, Bossel .

- A703351 !