It was actually quite warm this year (for a change), well I say warm - it wasn't snowing, and we didn't come back with frozen feet so that counts as 'warm' I guess. We somehow managed to miss the first carol, but of course there were plenty more to enjoy. For the first few carols it seemed like the Silver Band had actually got their act together, but about half way through it started to sound a little ragged and then for some reason the last verse of Hark the Herald Angels Sing was discarded. I've got a feeling the same thing happened last year in fact... of course it may be that there's some reason for this (or maybe they just got bored?) - but if there is I'm not party to it.
We also got a My Dying Bride-esque version of 'We Three Kings', which is usually so bouncy and full of life... not this time. Reduced to a crawl, the crowd was forced to mumble along investing the carol with a leaden quality previously unknown to these ears. And then of course the children from the school sang 'Away in a Manger', well I say sang... there was some distant muttering that sounded like it might be children, punctuated by one child bellowing 'Hello!' into the microphone.
Nice to see that last year's comedy spelling error remained intact in the hymn sheet, I'd love to know what 'Thus space the seraph' is supposed to mean...
