Categories: uncategorized
Date: 27 October 2006 22:50:42
Well, tomorrow we are off at an unholy hour (for a Saturday, perfectly reasonable for a weekday) to Canterbury, where I am doing my choir-groupie thing. Due to stupidly not booking earlier even though we knew the Canterbury Festival was on, we are not able to stay at our preferred hotel, which is literally next door to the Cathedral, so long walks trundling a suitcase on wheels are in the offing.
We went choiring this time last year as well, and my parents came to the Cathedral Eucharist and then bought us lunch. Before the service, it had crossed my mind that the Archbishop would be there, and then I thought, 'Nah, he must only make it to Canterbury once in a blue moon'. However, as I sat in the choir and watched the procession, when the green and cream chasuble went past, sure enough it was being powered by ++ Dumbledore himself! He celebrated but didn't preach.
Those of you who have visited Canterbury Cathedral will know that the choir is set up high at the top of some steps. After the service, I followed my mother, who has arthritis and had begun to climb slowly and cautiously down the steps. We became aware that waiting to come back up the steps was the man himself, who immediately put out his hand and helped my mum finish her descent, reassuring her that 'these steps are awful'. In the pub afterwards we agreed that His Beardiness was a true gent, and that my dear departed grandmother would have told that story for years afterwards!
I don't suppose anything so interesting will happen this time round, but I'll report back after the weekend.
Today, I have mostly been wearing - Jeans! Woohoo for the tacit acceptance of 'dress down Friday' in our team, partly motivated by the apparent existence of 'dress down Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday' by many of the officers in our new open-plan offices.