Eve of Christmas Eve

This year's run up to Christmas in Germany seems to me a little strange. As you may know, the main event is in the evening of Christmas Eve i.e. around 6:00pm on Sunday. This means that shops close at midday if it's a workday and in fact most businesses (office, manufacturing etc)  give their staff the half day free. There then follow two free days known as 1st and 2nd Christmas days where nothing special tends to happen apart from perhaps visiting family who weren't together on Christmas Eve.

The last few years have been employee unfriendly with at least one of these free days falling on a weekend day and therefore "lost". Thanks to the Leap Year in 2016. did avoid losing two days last year. This year we get back both free days but lose the half day Christmas Eve. A joy for retail shop staff though.

So today was a normal Saturday with shops, apart from in city centres and national supermarket chains, closing at midday. And then suddenly the world seemed to shut down. Little traffic and almost no sound.

And so it was on the late (5:30pm)  evening dog walk around the fields outside the village. Silent night is understating the atmosphere. Even the drive to and from the walk which took us through the village was completely absent of a single person or vehicle.

The Blip is of a house I have shown before and right on the edge of the village. It's the point at which we turn around. Again not a person to be seen through the massive sitting room windows which look directly out on to the fields with no hedge or fencing. One is forced to look through the window from a kilometre away as you approach the village.

As I have pointed out in the past, I don't like the (new) house architecture  but the view tonight did make a very welcoming Christmassy scene with the wood fire roaring and the decent white lights shining out in to the dark. No one to be seen but when I looked at the photo at home on a big screen see what looks like one of the young children's PJs being warmed up in front of the fire.

And continuing from yesterday's homeless thoughts, did wonder how a homeless person would react to the scene. Later tonight I watched the Bavarian Radio & TV choir and orchestra's Christmas concert "From around the world" under the direction of their leader Horward Arman and thought again about RedFlash and her choir work.


Howard Arman is described on English Wiki as "an English choral conductor" - on the German version of Wiki as "an European choral conductor". He and I were both born in 1954 but he has been "over here" longer than I, heavily involved in choir work in Germany and Austria since the early 80's. He has a very sympathetic style and is involved in all types of choir work - from opera to jazz. I did feel quite moved when the "English" contribution came - Joy to the World, text written by Isaac Watts and the music probably by that epitome of a European, the German Georg Friedrich Händel who 290 years ago became a British subject, George Frideric Handel. He seemed to feel at home in the company of the German monarchy who back then as today rule the Kingdom! Not just that we share the same two forenames that I like the guy!

As the moderator of the performance says at some point: music knows no borders.

The concert can be seen here, and at about 30:45, Joy to the World. Although he didn't take part in that particular piece, I have to admit the Italian guest countertenor was somehow irritating for me, as a musical ignoramus, to watch but with closed eyes very pleasant to hear.