Christmas

It is well known in our office that I am never at my best at Christmas. It is too expensive, I find the enforced jolly demeanour a bit tedious and age has rendered me less able to cope with the hangovers. I had a very nice time at the annual Christmas party of two of our donors last Sunday which included having to sing alongside two accomplished opera singers. The mulled wine being liberally distributed (which is in fact a warmed up punch) did nothing for my demeanour on Monday and the Christmas tree came under serious threat as I stumbled around the living room on arriving back home.

But nothing annoys me more than the "chuggers" (obsequious young charity collectors) at train stations who proliferate at this time of year. Approaching Fulham Broadway recently, I was accosted by one cheerily insincere fellow who asked for my name. "Don't worry about my name", I growled back at him. But he persisted, "Come on, what's your name?!".

"Ebenezer", came the reply, as I continued on my way.
"Have a nice Christmas" he called sarcastically after me. And I remembered I should go and see Simon Callow in his one man version of A Christmas Carol.

Hotting up

It is tradition in our office to begin worrying about the next season as Christmas approaches; once the new year has turned, the race to the first night is a quick one. We begin building in early March, a month that will see the very first OHP Spring Party, a delicious and very unique event (for a select few I am afraid - we have to raise money somehow!)

So much is going on right now. We have recently secured Wealth & Investment as our season sponsors for a further two years and we are a hair's breadth away from announcing our 2013 season which we hope will feature one of our most adventurous repertoire choices for some while. We published our first edition of our new magazine "Scenario" and are soon to put the preview edition to bed.

First, of course, there is Christmas to get out of the way and that means lots of carol concerts, visits to care homes and other such delights. One tradition that we have begun to participate in over the past few years is the house party of two of our supporters. It is a lovely affair with the best mulled wine (it includes brandy among its ingredients) and compels all attendees to join in with raucous and often well sung renditions of traditional carols, often in German, Latin and sundry other languages as well as English. Our hosts are most definitely concerned with our academic development!