Rehearsal

A different view of our little church tonight, taken from the step in front of the altar during a pause in proceedings - the final rehearsal for our carol service  this Sunday. The choir, 8+1, is the group with whom we perform everything from Palestrina to Leonard Cohen, though tonight Palestrina was more in evidence. Even with the heating on, it was cold - I was dressed as if for a Polar expedition and my feet still froze with standing on the (damp) stone floor. You can't see it, but tonight the walls were running with water - not rain coming in, but the result of the sudden rise in temperature today.

Lovely, lovely music; cold or no we sang better than ever - the acoustics are marvellous and tend to inspire us. Palestrina's Hodie Christus Natus Est , Adam Lay yBounden ... we can do old, but we also do contemporary with Donnie O'Rourke and Dave White's Clydeside Christmas Eve, which Mr PB arranged for choir originally for Cappella Nova and then again for us. Babies born in Bethlehem, bombed in the name of peace ... a powerful reminder that the slaughter of the innocents still goes on.