On the way into Norwich in the dark, I managed to dodge two young cyclists without lights. If only these idiots realised that it is themselves22 they are putting in danger. One was a black guy who had black clothing including a hood. He was virtually impossible to see.
Then in my mirror I observed some flashing lights. The thing was they didn't seem to get any closer. So I kept going. The vehicle seemed to pull out into the centre of the road on a number of occasions without making much attempt to overtake.
Then it started flashing its lights. I had had enough by this point and felt slightly disorientated and pulled into the side of the road and it slowly overtook and turned out to be an ambulance. It continued trundling along with its lights flashing.
As I mentioned yesterday we ate at a French restaurant which was quite good. They were doing a two course special for £14.99. Of course the price increases somewhat when they add on 10 per cent service charge and you have grossly overpriced drinks. I actually prefer it when a service charge is added as you don't have to think about tips and I was assured by the waiter that the 10 per cent does go to the staff.
The real reason for going into Norwich was to see granddaughter Poppy, who incidentally I always refer to as Poppa Doodle Do, singing as part of a choir from the Stagecoach Arts group which she attends on Saturday afternoons.
The carol concert was in St Peter Mancroft which is a magnificent church in the middle of Norwich opposite The Forum and close to City Hall and the market. It's almost big enough to be a cathedral but Norwich already has two of those.
Carol concerts, what are they like? Well pretty standard really. Every year we sing the same carols and hear the same readings. It all becomes quite samey. I only really like two kinds of Christmas services and they are at totally different ends of the spectrum. That is either a joyful very modern service or a very traditional one full of choirs and different music, even medieval music.
Favourite carol? Well that has to be "In The Bleak Mid Winter" but I've never quite come to terms with the line "snow had fallen snow on snow, snow on snow." Too many snows there for my liking
It's like the words from the Bible which I always find so awkward to say or read.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." Far too many mades in that one.
Random thought - I do like licking the cake mixture bowl out.
Random thought number two- I don't feel the need to wee very often until I have a cup of tea.
But back to carol services. I hate it when you come away from one feeling deflated and definitely short of joy. This can happen and it's often due to the address or sermon, call it what you will.
On Wednesday the address was very flat. It didn't stir any great emotions and was lacking in joy.
The children's singing was great. They were appearing with one of their teachers Benjamin Lake who used to live in Hethersett and whom I interviewed a couple of times for the local newspaper. Ben does a number of things which include busking in Norwich. He appeared on The Voice on television but didn't get picked up by any of the judges. Apparently according to the service booklets he also does singing telegrams.
The choir sang "I Believe" (not the version by The Batchelors, Frankie Lane or Robson and Jerome) but a different song altogether, Happy Christmas War Is Over which according to the service brochure was written by John Lenon rather than John Lennon. Interestingly before going to the church I took out a book about places connected with The Beatles.
Their third number was Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah which I'm never sure about. I'm not sure the lyrics are particularly Christian. But I stand to be corrected on that one.
There was confusion at the end of the service as we all trooped outside to meet our youngster outside a door which wouldn't open because they had lost the key. Then we stood outside another door in the cold before going back inside. I got detached from the rest of the family. They found Poppy but lost grandad who just went back inside to get warm.
The carol services I really remember are those put on by Norfolk Police which I organised for many years. It was a lot of work and I always breathed a sigh of relief when it was over and had gone well. We always had refreshments at the end. The readings and prayers were always given/led by different ranks including civilian employees. The address was either given by someone from the Cathedral or one of the police chaplains.
I always held myself in reserve if somebody scheduled to do readings couldn't turn up through duties or illness etc. One year I had to do the prayers. I had a number prepared but learnt a salutary lesson. I hadn't written down the Lord's Prayer. I didn't need to write down the Lord's Prayer. I knew it well. I had said it hundreds of times. But faced with a sea of well over 100 faces and it was probably closer to 200 I dried up and no words came out.
"And now we say the Lord's Prayer." And I couldn't remember the first line. There seemed to be a horrible pause before somebody thankfully started it off and everybody joined in.
Since that time I've always had stuff written out just on case. On one carol service evening I was driving a police sponsored car. It was liveried out in police insignia but wasn't a police car.
I was just about to turn into the cathedral through the Erpingham Gate when I stopped in a queue. The van behind didn't stop so quickly and went into my back. I wound down the window.
"Oh s--t" said the driver of the other vehicle.
"Sorry mate I've had a rotten day and now I've hit a police car," he added.
I told him I wasn't a police officer and it wasn't an official police car. The damage was only small so no great harm done.
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Now I know this blog has already been very long but you need something to read with your coffee and yesterday I promised I would talk about a man who makes money whilst putting his feet up.
This man demanded to be in my blog. He threatened violence if he wasn't ( actually I made that up).
But as he sipped his coffee and sampled another Jammy Dodger which I always thought was a poor boxer who always somehow avoided being hit (you might have to think about that one.)
This lazy man sat back in his chair, turned on his laptop and found he had won £75 on the Premium Bonds. Another Jammy Dodger down and he found he had received the old farts £250 energy payment simply for being an old fart. Then as if money trees really do exist, he found he had won another £250 from a draw he takes part in.
I left his company before any more silver and gold roared in.
END NOTE: Winning the money is true but the rest is made up. This person is by no stretch of the imagination lazy but he did demand being in this blog didn't you John Head?