Twice A Day In The Hot Seat.

A funeral in the morning and an almost celestial choir performance in the evening.

The community spirit in any small village is amazing and ever present. This week one of the elderly villagers went into her permanent sleep and her funeral was yesterday. As I did know her, I went too.

When a friend had told me the time of her funeral, I must have listened with only half an ear, because yours truly did a dress rehearsal on Friday...It only dawned on me while walking to the village church, that I was the only one in black walking in that direction. At first I thought that nobody was attending as she did have that peculiar way of being older and slightly caustic. When I got to the church though, I had the fortune to read the real time.

Anyway, Saturday morning saw rather a lot of villagers in the church, attending her funeral. Outside it was bone chillingly cold and inside the church it wasn't much better. Built in the 1700's the modern comfort of central heating was yet a twinkle in someone's eye. Coupled with the aesthetics of a catholic church, made yesterday morning a cold affair.

I had sort of dressed warmly, but let's be honest, who keeps a warm outfit in black for these somber occasions? I tried my best to look the part and luckily, they had an electric blanket in the form of a seat covering on all the pews. My God, eh sorry, my gosh, after sitting there for almost an hour, my behind got nice an warm. Not so shabby after all.

Yesterday evening, the local choir, " Like A Rainbow " which my mum is a member of, had a Christmas performance in the the village next door. In the local church, which you can imagine was rather frosty in the evening. Despite the cold weather, the church was packed to the rafters. And rightly so...

The lights were dimmed, the setting amazing and the choir sang in a celestial style that had all of us entranced and euphorically listening in awe. Throughout my years of attending the choir's performances, I have to say that last night was the best. The sound of singing can have the ability to heal and last night, the choir sang their repertoire of songs in a way, that could only heal and leave a lasting feeling of well being. Wow, absolutely fantastic indeed.

Sitting there, being transported to a world of peace, possibilities and beauty, one tiny little point made it an A-...the priest must have thought we needed reminding of what he is preaching all the time. The eternal flames down below and so forth...and let me tell you, the bench was warmed to such an extent that it was the definition of a hot seat...At the finale, when everyone stood up and cheered, quite a few were happy to get a bit of cold air under there...

Biggi