A friend invited us to a carol singing concert at St. James’s church on Piccadilly – the church with all the stalls outside, which sell everything from old costume jewellery, silk and woollen scarves and amber to coins and badges, silver spoons and teapots, old magnifying glasses, compasses and ancient Ethiopian crosses. The stallholders were packing up for the day as we arrived.
In the church we were behind a pillar so couldn’t see a lot of the choir – the conductor looked rather weird jumping wildly into the air and at times banging on a sonorous Tibetan gong. ‘Silent Night’ was somewhat disturbed by a man suddenly calling out,”Sybil, are you alright, Sybil, SYBIL?!”… Shades of Fawlty Towers… We looked round to see a grey haired woman slumped across the pew. A few anxious moments ensued. Then the choirmaster carried on and Sybil was much revived by a lively rendering of “The Holly and the Ivy”. The idle thought went through my head that my father had wanted to call me Eurydice. My mother objected as she said I would be called Dicey at school. It would perhaps have been appropriate…
On the way home we were just about to pass The Ritz, when I saw a tree on the opposite side of the road completely lit up as if by hundreds of sparkly diamonds on every branch and twig. No doubt escaped from the de Beers window display! John took this photo of it and as it’s not my own work I can say what a beautiful photo it is!
Diamond Tree
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