The organist librarian

The 15 day Holy Land pilgrimage was amazing and I will have much to write about it. We returned on the Friday and I went to choir practice as usual to find much consternation about the choir's fee for the wedding while I was away. Liz went to the servers dinner at Allen Hall. Saturday unpacked and I played for the wedding at 1 p.m. and Vickie was not best pleased that I arrived at 12.50 because the back tyre was down and had to be pumped up. The bride was 15 minutes late any way. To Vespers and Mass. Sunday all was sweetness and light again at Coulsdon. It seems the bride was not charged for the choir as we never had 6 people available to sing so the 4 who came were given £5 each from church funds! We sang Cleobury's arrangement of "Let all mortal flesh". To Adrian Adams' recital at St John's and long chat to Bev - we saw her in the Holy sepulchre church! Evensong - Howells Coll Reg and RVW O clap your hands. New guy called David played. Ironed all my long sle...

Woke at 4 a.m. so put on internet to see Barack Obama has been elected which is historic and amazing! Watched on Iplayer an excellent account of 100 years of Mills and Boon seen through 3 different stories. Spoke to Ann - they enjoyed the wedding in Tassie and Mark joined them there. He may come over here next year. To cathedral on buses for 5th session on Paul - we talked about Paul's positive view of death and keeping one's mind on heavenly things. 8 came. There were over 20 at the spirituality day to hear Canon Christopher on "Be not afraid". I was a little disappointed. He came late, did not stay for lunch, was with us for 30 minutes and then did not return for the interesting feedback session. Henrietta was late as usual and talked too much! Fr Christopher relied on personal testimony which was interesting. He listed 4 fears - physical, fear of not coming up to the mark, fear of being found out and fear of the future and death. There might be a parallel with the ...

Monday 40 lengths and tai chi. To Catenians and took CD player in pouring rain but never got to play CD of welcome song - good jokes. 40 lengths again - saw the ladies and told them about our pilgrimage. Car was checked by police at last and someone had smoked in it. To the health and safety course and we are halfway through although I have missed quite a bit. To vespers (cross bearer) and Mass. Matthew pointed out that the Corpus wasn't straight! Canon Christopher Tuckwell installed in chapter so lots of priests there including Fr Ed. Party in hall so saw lots of folk and met the new priest. Chat to David and Andrea, Victoria's parents.

Sang "Holy is the true light" by Harris at morning service and Nicholson in C - choir sounded a little strained I thought - coughs about. I played Howells "Sine nomine" and Francis Jackson on "Sine nomine". Chose music for December and watched video of Holy Land in 1972 - I am sure there will be many changes. To 5 p.m. All Souls service. Vickie was playing a Taize CD beforehand and asked us to rehearse downstairs. I think this a mistake as we were not used to the keyboard organ sound and the pitch in "Thou knowest Lord" took a while to settle. Psalm 121 to Barry Rose's chant. Candles lit on the altar and quite a good congregation. I played Vierne Epitaphe, Thalben-Ball Elegy and Elgar Angel's farewell at the end. On way home Peter Maxwell Davies 8 songs for a mad king was on radio 3 - I still object to the mangling of "Comfort ye" just as I did 34 years ago when I heard it live. Watched Antiques roadshow, Come dancing, Stephen F...

Saturday started out fine but turned very wet so last day of book sale pretty quiet despite half-price bargains! Ended up doing newspaper cuttings as have done all preparations for going away. Liz rang to say Ford Escot had been attacked and passenger door jemmied but unable to remove radio. As it is old it's probably not worth repairing but it's a nuisance as it's useful to have as a run around. To Vespers (smoke) and Mass - new server started and Philip and Victoria were there. Fr Tim preached well. To Pitcher and Piano Kingsway for Daniel Beach's 30th birthday. Louise and Bruce did not show. Lots of singers there so "Happy birthday" was very impressive! Jonathan and Lisa and Gill. Lisa very nice - has been to South Africa and Jon is getting a Birmingham accent! Had Lincolnshire sausages. The noise got to me so we left around 10 and I drove home. Reread my 1972 diary about Holy Land and marked up our schedule - have been to about half the places!