The organist librarian

To work early but no sign of pickets. Alvering library was closed and we closed at 5 instead of 7 because there was no senior available. I was the only senior all day and it was busy. Rather nasty drunk Irishman had to be asked to leave - not pleasant. Tony Tuck of the Battersea society had some interesting comments on the Power station plans. The strike seemed pointless as the government say there is no more money for us. To the cathedral for first part of mass - the platform on the scaffolding is now in place. To Elijah rehearsal as last night - Edward kept us and mixed us up but it seemed pointless. Excellent series on Channel 4 on seven wonders of the Islamic world.

To Lakeside home to sing carols at the simple communion service conducted by Bev. It is so hot in there and many of the elderly have dementia but it was appreciated. Sally gave me a lift home. Liz was baking rolls and mince pies - very delicious. Why does one eat so much at Christmas? I recorded King's carols as I had to play for crib services at 4 and 5 p.m. (an hour earlier than last year). What I heard in the car was excellent. There was lots of kids at the services. I played some French noels. On return home King's were on TV finishing with the stunning Tavener God is with us. I recorded from TV the Midnight Mass from Westminster Cathedral and this was stunning. Liz was serving at First Vespers, 6 p.m. mass and Midnight. I had a sleep. Bruce went to St John's. Coulsdon Midnight went really well. The Haydn Mass is just right - full of joy. Carols round the tree and we ended with "Ding dong" which we had not rehearsed. Stille nacht at the back. O holy night at c...

Saturday we returned to the Roehampton club with Mark, the best man, who did a fantastic job. He took a week off work for the wedding and his speech was great. Tom did very well too speaking without notes and of course Louise spoke too! The club had everything ready for us so Ann and I loaded up the car with top 2 tiers of the cake (carrot cake and fruit cake) - the bottom tier was sponge, flowers from the church and music, decorations, etc. Dennis drove AnnMarie's car and brought Liz home. In the evening we went to Vespers and Mass at the cathedral and Ann bought Christopher Jamieson's "Finding sanctuary". Because of the shortage of Eucharistic ministers, Liz, Alistair and I all gave out communion which I found a humbling experience never having done it before. After Mass we went in search of fish and chips. Andreous in Addsicombe was closed so we ended up at the excellent McDermotts in New Addington for takeaway which stayed hot.

And so the greatest week of the year begins! We spent Saturday rehearsing for the Holy Week ceremonies at the cathedral. We began with an excellent talk by Father Slawomir aimed at the youngsters about the Triduum liturgy. After a shared lunch, Deacon Peter gave a fine talk about our role aimed more at the adults. See Peter Simpson's excellent blog http://revprs.blogspot.com for some fine stations of the Cross. There was quite a lot of waiting around and I felt that the day started too early and was too long for some people. Also there was a missed opportunity to go through some general aspects of our serving like processing, acting together on stands and sits, and clarification of some aspects. An obvious point is where to sit on the sanctuary. I find it much better to sit in the stalls as I can hear there and I am not on top of the heating ducts which can be like a sauna at times! The 6 p.m. Palm Sunday Mass is shown on the cathedral blog. See http://westminstercathedral.blogspot...