Carols

A magical night for all. Ben and I went to St John's College for their Advent Carol service. We were lucky enough to get tickets as it is so popular now that the colleges in Cambridge run a sort of lottery for them. Even though we had tickets they required us to be there about half an hour before it started as they would not hold the seats if you were late. We arrived an hour before just to make sure and were pleased we did as they had organ music for time time leading up.

The old classics are always welcome, we heard three chorale preludes on 'Nun Komm' der Heiden Heiland, Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Fantasia and fugue in C minor. Didn't think much of Sicilienne which was composed between 1902-86 by Durufle. After this they had a short break where they informed us that we were being recorded by the BBC Radio 3 to be played this coming Sunday 3rd on the radio at 4pm our time, which is around 3am your time. We were then instructed to practice our lines together as a group and we went though some of the hymns as well to test the timing, volume etc. Unfortunately Ben and I had unsuspectly choosen seats next to one of these hidden microphones so pity the poor individuals having to listen to us warble.

The Choir sung some lovely pieces through the night, 'Adam Lay Bounden', 'Threshold of Night' and of course some classics like Emmanuel. Altogether it was an excellent evening and we finished it off with a quick dinner out and back home to our warm house. (We paid $100 AUD for a two course chinese meal - a genuinely new experience -- Ben)

We awoke on Sunday to another beautiful Sunday so after a big breakfast and finishing off printing all our Christmas cards we decided to explore the local woodland, trying the walk from Kingston to Wimpole. It was very pretty with leaves all over the forest floor and some trying to hang grimly onto the trees still. I was glad that I wore my wellies as it was very muddly. I took about an hour to rescue Ben's poor boots but the walk was well worth it. We walked along the Wimpole Way which takes one across country past the ancient stone hall that is in variouss stages of falling down and then finishes at the Wimpole Farm.

Unfortunately we did not make it that far as we had been walking an hour and half and still had not reached it. It was about 3pm so we had to turn back to get home before we lost the light. As it was we returned at 4.30 just as the gloom settled in and we settled into our nice comfy house all warm and toasty. We treated ourselves to a home made pizza for our efforts.