Christmas Comes Early

I am not a particularly religious person - I approach most belief systems from a utilitarian perspective - but I do love the Christmas season, mainly for the opportunity to stuff yourself silly with mince pies and pudding, and the chance to sing jolly Christmas carols. However, much as I enjoy this time of the year, I also think that the way an end-of-December event starts to creep into the middle of November is a worrying trend.

So it was with a little sigh that I found out we were due to sing Away In A Manger and other Christmas Carols in Victoria Station two Saturdays ago. Then again, the Pink Singers have a tradition of carolling at this time of the year (even if we've not done it so early before) and we also always perform for charity. This time it was for Marie Curie Cancer Care, so the motivation was good. Carolling in mid-November is more a reflection on how charities function in this holiday period, especially in a year when pockets are tight and charity fatigue sets in early.

A bunch of about twenty of us, accompanied by Cilla on guitar, ran through our song sheet of six carols. As last year, the music starts off in unison, and as the cycle progresses, the harmonies become more and more complex as ther various Pinkies improvise their own line. By the time we got to the end of a two hour stint we were back to singing like a regular choir again! Michael De's sleigh bells certainly helped add a touch of Christmas cheer to the proceedings.

Of course, with the Manchester competition looming it was also a chance for us to perform a few of our competition pieces to the unsuspecting public. The irony of singing Now Is The Month Of Maying on the freezing wind-swept Victoria train station concourse was not lost on the audience, and they seemed to appreciate it all the more.

Do we make a difference? I think we do: an informal chat with the collectors suggested that when we are around they tend to collect up to three times as much as if they were standing there jangling their buckets alone. If that is true, then Christmas in November is entirely justified, and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Edit: Bonus! Check out Oskar's photos of us in Victoria Station!

Ding Dong Merrily On High!

I thought I was sick of carols on Monday, but then the Pinkies did another carolling gig, this time on behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care at Victoria Station last night. Then I realised I didn't truly know what 'sick' was. Let me first of all say that I am thankful that I do not have to take public transport to go to work since I cycle most places. The crush getting from home to the station was not a pleasant one, and not one I wish to experience again. On the flip side, however, it did mean that there were more people to see us sing.

In fact, I'm not sure we could have had a more different venue if we tried. First of all there was a constant stream of people walking from the underground to the train platforms. There was talking, announcements over the tannoy and flashing advertisements around us, so it was entirely different from the near empty streets of Soho last night. We could barely hear ourselves sing it was so noisy.

As events go, however, I think this time round was more successful because many more people stopped to listen and donate a bit of cash. After having spent most of yesterday's carolling trying to find harmonies for the six carols in our set, I was also more confident of singing out. In numbers we were fewer, but in music we were stronger.

When I was a tourist in London at Christmas many years ago I remember seeing a group of carollers performing outside Penhaligon's in Covent Garden. It was such a wonderfully twee scene, just thinking about it makes me feel all warm and mushy inside. So it is pretty wonderful to be view things from the other side, and even more so knowing that we are doing our bit for charity, and having a good time at that!

Fa La La La La La La La La!

Is it possible to be sick of Christmas Carols? Until Monday evening, I thought this was a physical impossibility. This was, of course, before I had sung all six verses of The Holly And The Ivy six or seven times in one night, as part of the Pinkies small group. As part of our annual tradition, a bunch of us from the choir volunteers their time to carol for good causes, and Monday night's event was in aid of Crusaid for World AIDS Day.

It was a freezing night, and an intrepid bunch of Pink Singers gathered on the corner of Berwick and Broadwick Street to sing a few songs. We were joined by bucket carrying fund-raisers from Crusaid and a trio of drag queens who looked fabulous darling! It was a rather incongruous bunch, but made rather Christmassy by Michael De's conical hat (concealing a fleece beanie underneath), his sleigh bells, and a tiny Christmas tree. Hey, at least we could rock around it!

It turned out that our start location had perhaps less footfall than anticipated, and so we migrated over to Old Compton Street where there was marginally more traffic. I can't actually remember having been in Soho on a Monday night before, so didn't really know who or what to expect on the street. As it turned out there were commuters rushing home, a few drunken women staggering home from an office party, some tourists, an Italian waiter in his Fonz black leather jacket, quite a few cute gay men and the resident homeless man.

Most of them looked on with incredulity as we stood in the freezing cold, but the majority were quite supportive and stopped for a while to watch us perform before making a donation. The homeless gentleman even came up to us clutching a chopstick and led us with a bit of impromptou conducting. He got a bit too near to Cilla's guitar for comfort but stepped back when she said a stern 'no' to him and shook her head disapprovingly.

We had a short 15 minute break before regrouping for the final half hour at about 9pm. By then the slight drizzle was turning into quite significant rainfall, and the streets were clearing. Michael gave us the chance to call it quits, but as Janet said, only the Pink Singers are crazy enough to say, oh let's just sing a couple of songs and see whether the rain will stop. After a burst of Hark the Herald Angels Sing it actually did, and we closed the evening with our first public performance of Rockin' 'round the Christmas Tree. Thank goodness for Michael's little prop!