06:00 Jeg
kører tidligt ind i landsbyen og smutter ind i
Waghornes slagterforretning, for at hente kalkunen, vi sidste måned
bestillede, men unge Nick, der er vagthavende, kan ikke finde den. Butikken er
fyldt til bristepunktet med hans kunders kød i poser – et totalt mareridt. Han
lover at levere den senere på dagen, efter butikken lukker kl 13. Så derfor var
det til ingen nytte, at jeg kl 6 var
første i køen – uha!
Waghornes kl 6 - yikes! Jeg er første i køen, men til ingen nytte
- pokkers!
08:00 Jeg
tager en kop te med op på soveværelse til Lois, og bagefter kører jeg over til
det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at købe nogle sidste minut ting, herunder
vin og kattegrus. Minx, katten vores datter Alison efterlod hos os, da hendes
familie for 5 år siden flyttede til Danmark, er nu 17 år gammel og hun har ikke
længere lyst til gå ud i baghave for at besørge, så vi for nylig installerede
en kattebakke til hende i bryggerset og vi som konsekvens indimellem skal fylde
hendes kattebakke med kattegrus. Lois og jeg er selv godt oppe i årene, og det
tager os lang tid at tilpasse os til nye situationer, så vi nu og da opdager,
vi har løbet tør for kattegrus igen – uha!
Det er lidt
irriterende, at supermarkedet kl 8 allerede er fyldt til bristepunktet, og jeg
befinder mig i en lang kø ved kassen bag flere husmødre med overfyldte
indkøbsvogne – uha!!!!!
Ikke en god
start på dagen. Men jeg kører hjem og slapper af i sofaen med Lois og verden er
okay igen – hurra!
10:00 Lois
skynder ind i køkkenet. Hun dækker julekagen med is og pynter den.
Lois
dækker julekagen med is og pynter den
Jeg føler mig
lidt nervøs i dag, fordi jeg ved, vi skal i aften ind i byen, hvilket nu er
blevet langt udenfor min komfortzone – vi har bestillet concertbilletter på
nettet, og jeg har ikke den fjerneste anelse om, hvor nemt det vil være at
parkere den være sidste lørdag aften før jul, midt i byen, så vi ikke er for
langt væk fra rådhuset, hvor koncerten finder sted.
Vi
forbereder os for at tage ud i byen
18:00 Vi kører
ind i byen. Vi ved, vi skal hente billetterne ved rådhusets kasse, der kun
åbner sig 45 minutter før starten af koncerten, hvilket er lidt irriterende. Kassen
åbner sig i aften faktisk lidt senere, end annonceret. Det ville have været
rart at kunne møde tidligt, finde en god parkeringsplads, og drikke en øl i
baren, men vi skal stå i kø ved kassen og finde vores pladser: vi opdager, at baren
er fyldt til bristepunktet med mennesker, der afhentede deres billette
tidligere på ugen – uha!
19:15 Vi
sætter os i vores pladser. Jeg spotter min tidligere arbejdskollega, Sarah, der
er medlem af koret og vi snakker lidt. Hun siger, at hun desværre har ondt i
halsen, så hun bliver nødt til at mime i stedet for at synge – stakkels Sarah!!!!
Jeg spotter også Charlie, min tidligere chef, i publikummet og vi snakker lidt
om de gode gamle dage, da vi hjalp med at redde verden. Lykkelige tider!!!!
Vi
venter på, at koncerten begynder
19:30
Koncerten begynder: Cheltenhams Bachkor synger Handels Messiah, ledsaget af
Regency Sinfonia-orkestret, en meget rørende oplevelse. Jeg er ikke rigtig religiøs,
men jeg som barn tilbragte alle mine søndagformiddage i søndagsskole, og jeg
kender Handels Messiah godt fra gamle lp-plader. Jeg elsker både musikken og
den skønne tekst, der for det meste blev taget fra de vidunderlige ord i King
James Versionen (1611). Jeg opdager, at jeg ikke har svært ved at synge teksten
for mig selv sammen men sangerne (kun i mit hoved ha ha ha!).
Der er 4
solister, som sædvanligt: sopran, alt, tenor, bas. Men i stedet for en kvinde
syngende alt, har vi en mand, en kontratenor, så det er lidt mere af en ”pølsefest”
på solistbænken, end normalt ha ha ha!
Hannah
Davey er koncertens sopran
Heldigvis er sopranen
en dejlig lokal kvinde, Hannah Davey, der også synger jazz i radioen: tårerne
fylder mine øjne, da jeg hører hende synge Jobs skønne ord, Jeg ved, at min
løser lever, og at han som den sidste skal stå op over støvet. Og når min hud,
således sønderslidt, er borte, skal jeg ud fra mit kød skue Gud.
Vi
tager en kort spadseretur i rådhuset under koncertens pause
for at strække benene: udstillingen
af valmuer er en levning fra
november
måneds Våbenstilstandsdag
22:00
Koncerten slutter og vi kører hjem. Det er lidt over vores sengetid (kl 23), da
vi hopper op i sengen – yikes, vi lever farligt!
English translation
06:00 I drive into the village early and swing by
Waghornes butcher's shop to pick up the turkey we ordered last month, but young
Nick, who is on duty, cannot find it. The store is full to bursting with his
customers' meat in bags - a total nightmare. He promises to deliver it later in
the day after the shop closes at 1pm. So I get no benefit from being first in
the queue at 6am - oh dear!
08:00 I take a cup of tea up to the bedroom for Lois, and
then I drive over to the local Sainsbury's supermarket to buy some last minute
things, including wine and cat-litter. Minx, the cat our daughter Alison left
behind with us when her family moved to Denmark 5 years ago, is now 17 years
old and she no longer wants to go out to the backyard to do her business, so we
recently installed a litter tray for her In the utility room, and as a
consequence we have to fill her litter-tray with cat litter from time to time. Lois
and I are ourselves well advanced in years, and it takes us a long time to
adapt to new situations, so we occasionally discover to our surprise that we
have again run out of cat-litter - oh dear!
It's a little annoying that the supermarket is already
full to bursting at 8am and I find myself in a long queue at the checkout
behind several housewives with over-full shopping carts - oh dear !!!!!
Not a good start to the day. But I drive home and relax
on the couch with Lois and the world is okay again - hurrah!
10:00 Lois hurries into the kitchen. She ices the
Christmas cake and decorates it.
Lois ices the Christmas cake and decorates
it
I feel a little nervous today because I know we've got to
go into town this evening, which has now become far outside of my comfort zone
- we have booked concert tickets online and I do not have the slightest idea of
how easy it will be to park on the last Saturday evening before Christmas, in
the middle of town, somewhere that's not too far away from the town hall, where
the concert takes place.
We get ready to go out into town
18:00 We drive into town. We know we have to pick up the
tickets at the town hall's box-office, which opens only 45 minutes before the
start of the concert, which is a little annoying. The box-office in fact opens
tonight a little later than advertised. It would have been nice to show up
early, find a good car parking spot and have a beer at the bar, but instead we
have to queue at the box-office and find our seats: we then find that the bar
is filled to bursting with people who picked up their tickets earlier in the
week - oh dear!
19:15 We sit in our seats. I spot my former
work-colleague, Sarah, who is a member of the choir and we have a little chat.
She says that, unfortunately, she has a sore throat, so she will have to mime
instead of sing - poor Sarah !!!! I also spot Charlie, my former boss, in the
audience and we talk a little about the good old days, when we helped to save the world. Happy times!!!!
Waiting for the concert to begin
19:30 The concert begins: the Cheltenham Bach Choir sings
Handel's Messiah, accompanied by the Regency Sinfonia Orchestra, a very
touching experience.
I'm not really religious, but as a child, I spent all my
Sunday mornings in Sunday school, and I know Handel's Messiah well from old
LP's. I love both the music and the beautiful text, that was mostly taken from
the wonderful words of the King James Bible (1611). I find that I do not have
any trouble singing along with the lyrics together with the singers (only in my
head ha ha ha!).
There are 4 soloists, as usual: soprano, alto, tenor,
bass. But instead of a woman singing alto, we have a man, a countertenor, so
it's a bit more of a "sausage fest" than normal on the soloists'
bench ha ha ha!
Hannah Davey is the concert’s soprano
Fortunately, the soprano is a lovely local woman, Hannah
Davey, who also sings jazz on the radio.
Tears fill my eyes when I hear her singing the beautiful words of Job, "I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day, upon the earth. And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."
Tears fill my eyes when I hear her singing the beautiful words of Job, "I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day, upon the earth. And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."
We take a short stroll round the town hall
during the concert break
to stretch our legs. The exhibition of poppies is a leftover from
November's
Remembrance Day / Veterans Day
22:00 The concert ends and we drive home. It's a bit past
our bedtime (11pm) as we jump into bed - yikes, we're living dangerously!
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