Christmas Eve 2009

Hello! Belated Merry Christmas to you all. Before I begin my tale of my Christmas Eve adventure, I thought I'd include a picture of a London at Christmas--this one (above) in Covent Garden.

So on Wednesday afternoon, I met my friends Wayne and Lois and their daughter Melissa (who's visiting from the States right now) as well as another LMC resident, Sam, and we headed for King's Cross station. The ride (north) to Cambridge only took 50 minutes since we were on the express train. We settled ourselves at our hostel and headed out to check out the town and in particular find out what we could about this King's College Lessons and Carols service which we had come up for. We found the University of Cambridge and in fact talked to some people who were spending the night at the gate in order to assure themselves first place in line the next morning. One man had in fact been there for two nights already--clearly a diehard fanatic! As it was a cold, drizzly night and these people were armed only with lawn chairs, sleeping bags, and a few tarps to keep them warm, we didn't envy them in the slightest. However, they convinced us that it would definitely be in our best interests to arrive before the gates were opened at 7:30, seeing that the chapel only had room for 150 people, and the ante chapel (with room for 450) was located behind the organ chancel and therefore would block our view of the choir. Two of our party wanted to leave the hostel at 5, but the majority (three) ruled for a 6:00 departure from the hostel. After that discussion, we headed to the Eagle (a local pub) for some grub. On the way, we found this clock, which I understand is supposed to be symbolic of time being "eaten" metaphorically (in this case by a very large insect!)

So we got to King's College about 6:35 the next morning and stood in line outside the gate. We quickly started talking with the people immediately in front and behind us in the line and ended up sharing food, chairs, and holding places in the line for each other throughout the remainder of the day. The picture below was taken around 7:45 in the morning after we had been let through the gate, looking back at the library behind us.
It was a very cold day, and we made numerous short forays throughout the day to find warm drinks, the loo, and just to walk around and get the blood flowing to numb hands and feet again. Once in line, people were expected to stay in the line except for brief breaks, and no one could hold a place for someone not yet arrived. This was a largely self-regulating policy, since everyone knew the people who had been there with them since the beginning, though there were some security people patrolling around as well.

Here are some roasted chestnuts (the first I've ever eaten) that were a welcome snack on a cold day. I ended up going to the campus shop to buy myself an additional pair of socks to put on and warm my frozen feet. Around 1 pm, a group of some of the older choristers came outside and sang a few light-hearted Christmas songs in beautiful harmony for the assembled crowd, and then walked down the queue to another group of people and sang for them.

Around 1:30, they let us into the chapel, and we did get into the chapel, though the way it was set up we couldn't see the choir real well. Instead of our seats facing the choir, we were facing the audience on the other side of the chapel and had to turn our heads to the left to see the choir.

ante chapel organ choir people us altar

At 2:30 the organist played, and the concert started just after 3. It went until about 4:45. It was nevertheless a magnificent concert and I'm glad I went. The pure treble voices of the young boys combined with the rich voices of the young men's choir. It was also a good opportunity to get to know some of my friends from church better.

I had hoped to write a post about Christmas Day now too, but my taxi for my trip to Leipzig arrives in 30 minutes and I think I should make a few last minute-checks before leaving the house. I will be on again after my return on New Year's Day if not before. Happy 2010 everyone.