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

We're nearly at the end of our musical concert season coming up to Christmas. In the last week I was at concerts on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In the Friday one, I was one of the performers. In the others my daughters were playing.

The Friday concert was my Recorder Consort group - we're learning to play recorder together as a group, which is great fun. I think the concert went well, and my own contribution to it was good. I didn't break down in a bundle of nerves or make any major mistakes, although there are obviously lots of improvements to be made.

Also at the show were Recumbentman's viol players (he's the teacher). They played their pieces well, and we all played together at the end, a few Christmas carols, but they went down well with the audience. In all we had 14 performers and 14 in the audience.

Next Thursday is my big choir's Christmas carol concert, in the National Concert Hall. We've sold about half the seats in the place, but would like to fill it. It should be a nice evening, with lots of familiar carols, a few unfamiliar ones, a brass band and some audience participation. A nice evening to get in the mood for Christmas.

Then we'll be finished for the year.

What a busy time you're having.

I'm glad you are enjoying it and that everything went well so far.

Sounds good. I'm a bit disapointed this year, my only useual 'cultural' 'thing' of the year is making it along to one or two classical/choral concerts in the run up to Xmas and I've just not managed to this year

There's still plenty of time.

Smaller concerts are often worth going to, too. 2legs - there are so many good concerts in Cambridge - in chapels and churches with lovely acoustics and high quality performers.

(Most of them might have finished now, though, as the students will have gone home for Christmas.)


Funnily enough, although I'm working with 4 choirs at the moment, only one is really doing anything for Christmas.


Gnomon and family> All we need is for it to be snowing when you come out, to make for a Christmassy atmosphere, but you have said before that it rarely snows in Dublin.

Most of the ones I've been too were very small affairs; small rural out of the way Churches normally, but with a visiting choir : Probably is this year I'm working, up till Wednesday then off away on Thursday, and I'm just so ill at the moment with this fever I wouldn't want to go spreading it about

Here you are - warm them up and sip them slowly - Wish you better!

now thats what I need!: the glasses of mulled wine in the vestry in the small church after the choral performance! Actually I was just reading and replying to an email from a good friend earlier who sings and performs with what seems like a vast amount of differnt choirs it was his choir I saw a couple times last year, he's soemtimes doing two differnt performances a day at the moment with differtn choirs, but I swear he only does it for the free mince pies and mulled wine afterwards

No, we're not likely to get snow this side of Christmas. I don't think it has ever snowed at Christmas in my lifetime, although there was a very snowy winter in 1946 or 1947 - apparaently there was snow on the ground for three months.

We had snow just after Christmas in 2000, on the day we brought our son home from the hospital, which would have been the 28th. Bad enough that we had unexpected guests trapped with us for New Year, as they couldn't drive on to Galway as planned.

Zube

Mrs R was born in October 47 and she often heard her father reminiscing about the snowy winter of 46-47 . . .

Yes, here in Ireland the cold doesn't come till spring (old saying -- Ní thagann an fuacht go dtí an Earraigh). I've seen snow as late as June but rarely as early as December.

It snowed in Dublin the Christmas before last. Didn't last long but it was enough to set those of us old enough to remember 1947 reminiscing.