All Souls' Day and dinner with friends

I woke up yesterday content in the knowledge that I didn't have to work :). Even though half term is officially over, my guaranteed work days only kick in tomorrow (Wednesday) and that means I won't hear from the agency until then. After a bit of lounging around, I finally got up and tried to decide what to do with my freedom.

I had a quick chat with Eelin, who was heading out to study for a major exam she has to sit for her job on Wednesday. She'd been given Monday and Tuesday off work to prepare, so she was going to a computer lab to get some notes typed up and printed. She shared the rather disturbing news that the Bakerloo line on the tube was suspended because of, and I quote, "a person under a train". Honestly, you'd think the TFL (Transport for London) people would find a way to put it more tactfully or less explicitly. Anyway, I made a mental note not to use the Bakerloo line and, after wasting some more time and watching assorted videos on Youtube (I really don't know what I'd do without Youtube!), I finally decided that I'd go catch the new Bond film before getting some grocery shopping done and heading to St Paul's for the All Souls Requiem mass at 5.

The Bond film was pretty good. Lots of action, lots of the expected. I thought the ending was a bit anti-climactic, but still walked out of the cinema feeling fairly satisfied. It's not the sort of film I'll see again and again, but it was entertaining enough. Stopped quickly in the supermarket on the way home to pick up some essentials (bread, sandwich meat for work lunches, and fruit), then quickly dropped everything off at home and headed off to St Paul's.

It was still fairly early when I got there so I had my choice of seats. I like to sit closest to the choir in one of the back rows in the North end of the Cathedral (the better to hear them from) - I know, it's a bit scary when you've got a favourite seat in a Cathedral :). haha. Anyway, I busied myself with looking through my order of service and starting in on the sudoku in the free newspaper whilst I waited for the service to start.

I should explain, before I go on, what made this service different from any of the others I've been regularly going to. First of all, a full mass (eucharist) was being sung instead of the normal evensong. This was due to it being All Souls' Day - the day when those who have passed away are commemorated and remembered. Therefore, obviously, a Requiem was being sung by the choir; Faure's Messe de Requiem, to be precise. More interestingly for me, the service would include pieces of music that aren't generally sung in a regular eucharist, and even the responses would be set to different music.

To make a long story short, the service was absolutely beautiful. It was incredibly solemn and moving, and the music was stunning. One of the choristers, a boy named Lewis, had the most exquisitely beautiful solo ("Pie Jesu"), which gave me goosebumps. I think I sometimes forget how incredibly talented the boys are; to me, they're still just the kids I got to know when I taught at St Paul's. It's easy to forget that they're also world-class choristers. Their musical abilities are actually a bit intimidating! Sight-reading, breath control, voice control (dynamics, etc.) and pitching are so easy for these kids, but they just take it as a matter of course. It's nice that they don't see themselves as different from anyone else - they're a really down-to-earth bunch of boys :).

As a random tidbit, I should say that all these services are having a welcome effect on my sight-reading abilities! lol. Since sheet music for hymns are printed in the orders of service or on the hymn sheets, I get to sight-sing a lot of music I've never seen before. In the beginning I found that I was really rusty and struggled a bit, but now I'm quite proud of my sight-reading skills!

After the service, I was dismayed to see that it was raining. Walking around the Cathedral, I decided I'd walk over to Mansion House station and get a train home from there. As I walked, I texted Clive to ask him a question - I'd noticed that two of the boys hadn't been singing at the service and was worried that their voices were breaking (Alistair has apparently grown about 3 inches since school started alone). Imagine my surprise as I sat on the platform waiting for my train and felt my phone buzzing. Pulling it out, I flipped it open to find that it was Clive calling. He asked if I wanted to go to dinner with him, Donald, and Mark at 7. Glancing at my watch, I saw it was already 6:40 and agreed to walk back to the school to meet him and Mark so we could travel over to meet Donald together.

By the time I got back to the school, my jeans were soaked and my hair was a frizzball :). Nikki, the school bursar, let me in and I spent a few minutes waiting in the hall until Mark showed up. We then pulled out into the school office where there was less going on (in the hall, boys and parents were constantly popping in and out on their way to various parts of the school, which was a bit distracting) and had a chat while we waited for Clive to change. It was about 7:10 when he finally came back downstairs and we headed to the tube station.

When we arrived at the platform, the board said the next train was in 14 minutes. We all did double takes and were convinced that it must be a mistake, until a voice came over the PA system to announce that the board was indeed right and could we all please stand back from the tracks until the train arrived. The three of us passed the time chatting, watching the mice running around on the tracks below us, and keeping track of the people that were constantly arriving on the platform as we waited. By the time the first train came by, the platform was completely packed. We had to let the first train go by but, thankfully, managed to push our way onto the second train and finally spilled gratefully out onto the platform at Tottenham Court Road about 15 minutes later.

After a brief mishap trying to find the exit (totally my fault - I followed the other passengers to the tunnel that connected to the Northern line and then, when I realised my mistake, started walking towards the wrong end of the station instead!), we finally came out onto the street and began walking. Clive managed to get in touch with Donald to tell him we were late (obviously) and rearrange the meeting place. When we found him, we settled on a Chinese restaurant and had a huge and delicious dinner before rolling ourselves home.

Last night made me think about friends and relationships. What I realised is that it felt really good to just sit with friends and talk and joke and laugh. I sometimes feel like I only get to have serious conversations with people - at work, there isn't really any room for joking (I'm finding that kids under a certain age don't understand sarcasm and, since a lot of my sense of humour is sarcastic, joking with them ends up confusing them!) and the people I see most regularly can be quite serious. In any case, it was relaxing to just let loose, be myself, and laugh :).

Actually, that's what I miss most about my friends in Canada; I miss how well we all knew each other and could just have a relaxing night out without any sort of self-censorship. I do have those sorts of relationships here but, unfortunately, they're with friends I don't get to see very often.

Anyway, I'm going to stop rambling now (this whole post is a pointless ramble, to be honest)! To sum up, the Bond movie is harmlessly fun, I still love the St Paul's Cathedral Choir and am possibly the strangest person ever for having favourite seats in a Cathedral, and I miss my Canadian friends :(.

Oh, and the reason for the long wait in the tube on the way to dinner? Can you guess? That's right, yet another "person under a train". *sigh* As Mark put it, "they may as well say, 'severe delays due to staff members having to scoop up remains of corpses'!". Hey, I suppose at least the TFL is honest!