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Feeling better today, but took it easy just in case. I was a bit tired and Ernie keeps falling asleep too, so I think we've got the same thing. It's not too bad. It got me out of taking Phoebe to football so I got to stay in the warm, but I also missed a party in London.
We did go to our neighbours for their annual Christmas party. Nice to see people from the village and sing carols with them. A familiar face came towards me and said hello. I couldn't quite place him, but assumed he lived in the village, because pretty much everyone did. He told me he'd met me on the Chris Moyles show where he works. It's really discombobulating to see someone familiar in the wrong context, but I can be forgiven for not remembering where I knew him from. What the Hell was he doing next door?
He was a friend of a friend and been invited along.
The impromptu carol singing is a highlight of the night, with quite an eclectic mixture of songs on the song sheets, including this year Mama Mia. But it takes dedication to get a song accepted as a Christmas Carol and you have to start somewhere. Carols are OK, but the successful ones seem to have one really cool bit that secures them as fixtures. The carol writers much love it when they get one, but they are rare and hard to predict, as any pop hit. But imagine writing "five gold(en) rings" and then taking the day off, knowing how much pleasure those three words with that tune are going to give for generations. I don't think you would guess how enjoyable the "gathering winter fu-ooo-el" bit of Good King Wenceslas would be, maybe thinking of the fun of people thinking it would be the mistaken "Wences last" that would be the best bit. But you'd have to be a foo-ooo-el not to love singing about the fuel.
Even less predictable is the Oooh oooh, in We Free Kings. Oooh Oooh Star of wonder.... How annoying the the guy who came up with fu-ooo-el that you could get the same effect without even writing a word.
Also a lot of carols have fucking crazy middle verses. How about this one from Jingle, Bells
A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright,
Was seated by my side
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
He got into a drifted bank
And then we got upshot
Full of double entendres. And that's what Jesus was born for.
