Choir concert

Last night was the Colwall Community Choir's Christmas Carol Concert. We performed some mostly-Christmassy music in the first half, and audience joined in with Carols afterwards. I've been in various university choirs where drinking is high on people's priority lists. But I don't recall any previous occasion where the performers drank wine and beer before the concert, at interval, and even during the performance! It was rather informal, and I'm sure the select audience enjoyed it all. We're looking forward to the next term already.

The school's annual cross country race was held yesterday too. It seems that the two ballet teachers may have been indulging in a few too many christmas puddings. I'm told that last year they were a pantomime cow, and the previous year saw wetsuits and flippers. The suggestion is that I shouldn't mention any names, classes or subjects to identify these two, lest it affect their future careers... Stephanie ran creditably, even if she didn't enjoy it.

This morning, while Stephanie's at pottery and railway, Helen's visiting classmate Emma for a play. It's not very friendly outside weather - cold blustery showers, but I'm sure they'll find plenty to keep themselves amused.

Helen was an Olive Seller (late-cast, not having been here at term beginning) in the junior Christmas play. Joanna says it was enjoyable, and the kids' reports tend to agree.

Our rainy-day activities for this afternoon look like including the library, the Theatre of Small Convenience, and the Malvern Splash. We are used to swimming in December, you know. We'll also try to acquire a tree for the living room.

Speaking of trees, there's a lot of deciduous bareness. This is from Joanna's Mums Up The Malverns walk on Wednesday in the Gardner's Quarry area. It was rather cool and windy, so all the babies are warmly tucked away into their cocoons.

The lack of decent wine shops is having a noticeable impact on the cellar - it's empty. The Ledbury Wine Cellar is mail order only, and for variety, the Sunday Times seems to be well stocked. But mostly they seem to sell whole dozens, which isn't quite what I'm after. I'll keep looking. We might go exploring Birmingham and/or Coventry tomorrow - perhaps we'll find something there.