St Cecilia's Day Festival and Year 2s

I've had an interesting couple of days.

Yesterday, I went to the annual St Cecilia Day Festival Service at Westminster Cathedral (Cathedral, NOT Abbey). This is a special service held in honour of St Cecilia, the patron saint of music and a martyr of the church. Apparently she was a Roman noblewoman who was sentenced to death for being a Christian but the executioner couldn't kill her, despite trying to chop her head off 3 times. He finally ran off in fear and she went on to live for 3 more days, devoting her time to alternately giving her possessions to the poor and singing (hence the musical connection, I think). I shudder to think what state she was in for those 3 days, considering the little blurb in my programme said that the executioner failed to completely sever her head, which would presumably mean that it was somewhat severed...? Let's not think about that.

Anyway, the reason why I wanted to go to this service is that it's the only time in the year that the choirs of St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and Westminster Cathedral sing together. That's right - 3 of the world's best church choirs sing a service together, as one massed choir. The resulting sound is absolutely amazing. Because of limited space, each choir brings along only their most senior choristers, which means their most experienced and skilled. I've rarely heard anything so beautiful - I'm still in awe.

The service was completely sold out and had been for weeks. Though the service isn't common knowledge and the tickets were free and only obtained by writing in to the ticket office, there seem to be enough people in the know to make it difficult to get in. I lucked out and snagged a couple of general admission tickets - a lot of the Cathedral is reserved for special guests (there must have been at least 100 members of the various liveries/guilds of London - the old-fashioned remnants of a society that used to depend on its chandlers and farriers, amongst others) and another good chunk is reserved for Friends of the MBF, the charity that organises the Festival each year.

What was funny was that I was sat at the very back of the Cathedral, buried deep within a mass of people. You would think I would be completely anonymous, right? Not quite :). As the choirs processed down the centre aisle of the Cathedral at the end of the service, I looked down my row at them to see which boys had been brought over from St Paul's. Despite being at the far end of the row and surrounded by people so tall I felt like I was in the middle of a forest, Lewis (the boy who sang that beautiful solo I posted earlier) glanced down my row and looked straight at me. A flash of recognition crossed his face, he threw a laughing grin at me, and then he had passed. I had to chuckle; the boys have the uncanny ability to spot me no matter where I sit in their services. It doesn't seem to matter if I'm sat behind them, in front of them, near or far. I remember once sitting under the Dome at St Paul's, again completely buried in the middle of a row near the back of the congregation, and still having one of the boys give me a huge grin from a distance as the choir processed out.

Anyway, I'll definitely go along to next year's service if I'm still in the country. It'll be at St Paul's then (they rotate between the 3 churches), so I'll be on familiar ground :).

Today I was at a school in Golder's Green, supply teaching in a class of Year 2s. It wasn't too bad - the usual mix of good and naughty kids, along with one serious troublemaker. The only thing of note about it was that the kids seemed to burst into tears on the hour; every time I turned around, there would be another kid crying. It was the strangest thing! Once it was because the girl didn't want to do her work, another time it was because a boy didn't think he could do the work. Then there was a boy who cried for both of the aforementioned reasons, and another girl who cried because her friend wouldn't play with her at break. Maybe that's a normal day with Year 2s?? I have no idea!

The other strange thing involved a Year 2 girl who wasn't even in my class! When I got into the school in the morning, I went next door to see if the other Year 2 teacher could help me with my resources (the teacher I was covering had left absolutely nothing). I walked in, said hello to her, and was surprised and startled when a little girl walked steadily up to me, a smile on her face, and gave me a gigantic hug. I think I threw a confused look over her head at the other teacher, who looked completely non-plussed, and awkwardly let her hold onto me for a minute before gently disentangling myself.

That wasn't the end of it, however. Later, as I was walking back to my classroom from break, the same little girl came walking down the hallway, going in the opposite direction. Again the big smile, outstretched arms, and huge hug. This time she was with a TA, who grinned and said, "Aww, isn't that nice?" Being a bit more prepared for the hug this time, I returned it before trying to pull away. Perplexingly, the little girl hung on and there was a long minute before I could extricate myself.

Now, don't get me wrong - I love hugs from my kids and take it as evidence that I've managed to connect with them and show them I care about them. I never initiate a hug, of course, but I'll return one if a kid spontaneously throws his or her arms around me. In fact, I didn't think it strange that the kids in my own class began to give me hugs by the middle of the day - it comes with the territory/age group, along with them wanting to hold your hand as you walk them through the school. This little girl wasn't in my class though; I was a perfect stranger to her. Even more bizarre? She didn't say a single word to me :D. lol. Basically, she smiled, she hugged, then she walked away.

Ahh, the experiences that teaching brings :).