celestialweasel

Went up to Heath and Reach on Friday for Christmas karaoke at The Dukes. We made our customary stop at Waddesdon Manor. Sadly the Christmas market wasn’t there - for some reason it had ended on the 14th - but there were still some street food stalls there so I got a delicious generous portion of ‘Bavarian’ tater tots with sauerkraut, German sausage and curry sauce, nicely washed down with a mulled wine. The house had an exhibition about Christmas around the world and the travels of Ferdinand de Rothschild and his family, who used to own the place.

Stopped in Leighton Buzzard for some chicken and chips then on to The Dukes to check in. They now have advertising for Camden Town Brewery on display and on the staff’s name badges. A bit of a chill in front of the telly till time for carol singing on the Village Green.

The Heath Band were in excellent form and there was a good crowd gathered. They opened with O Come All Ye Faithful and followed with Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. It was all traditional carols after that, until the very end when, after God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, they closed with We Wish You A Merry Christmas, in its traditional form, I’m happy to say. I cannot believe some killjoys want to take out the figgy puddings. Everyone was in good voice, we got a mulled wine and a mince pie during the interval, and tins were passed round collecting for the band.

Crossed the road back to The Dukes. Sarah was sitting in the bar, we hugged and kissed, and she said she’d learned all of Fairytale of New York ready. I told her our duet was a keystone of my Christmas and she said it was the same for her. Unsurprisingly, the bar had a range of Camden Town beers on tap so I went for a pint of their stout to lubricate my vocal cords.

There was a bit of a delay as Sarah seemed to be having issues with the laptop that the karaoke tracks were on, and one of the mikes appeared to be on the blink. Eventually she was ready to go and went around asking people what they wanted to sing.

She called me up first. I opened with A Winter’s Tale then Stop The Cavalry and got a generous round of applause for both. Then Sarah stepped forward, announced how I’d travelled three hours to be there and that it was our tradition, and joined me for Fairytale Of New York. The equipment behaved itself, the duet went like a dream, and as I held Sarah and danced with her for the instrumental runout she said with pride how she’d remembered to join me singing the bit from “When the band finished playing”. I thanked her and sat down to a round of applause.

A big chap called Jack was next up singing Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire but, unknown to me, my evening on the stage wasn’t over by a long chalk. On the table behind us was the pub’s ladies’ darts team, who were a lively lot. Halfway through the evening one of them, Lol, asked if I’d sing with her sister. I agreed and her sister, Jan, asked if we could do Silent Night. She got Lol to join her in the Real Thing’s You To Me Are Everything then it was my cue. We made it through Silent Night then we returned to our seats and I got into a chat with the darts ladies.

It snowballed from there. I just had time to get a refill when a bloke called Mark, on his way up to do Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas Everyone, suddenly stopped by me and said “Come and sing with me”. Another of his mates was on the stage so it was Mark’s mate and I who sang the Shaky number while Mark danced around behind us. He was promptly nicknamed Bez.

A lady in a white jumper called Laura, a little reluctantly, went up next and did a lively rendition of All I Want For Christmas Is You alongside Mark’s mate. Mark Bezzed around again most of the time but joined in for the last verse. Lol asked me to join her singing White Christmas, I did my best to give it a warm Bing intonation, then when we returned to our seats Lol came up for a bit more of a chat.

Went to the bar for a refill where a guy in a replica rugby shirt congratulated me on my “courage and self-awareness”. I got to sit back and relax as Laura and a couple of others raised the roof with Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday. Sarah thanked everyone for coming and wished us all a Merry Christmas then the darts ladies finished with Do They Know It’s Christmas? As people began to drift away I went over to Sarah to thank her, she thanked me for coming and said she hoped I’d be back again before next Christmas, and we said goodbye and Merry Christmas with a kiss.

Woke yesterday morning with an ominous dryness at the back of my throat but hoped it was just my mucous system being overproductive again. Felt sentimental passing by my old haunts on our way out of the village.

Woke up today with a mild sniffle. Time to reach for the First Defence. Fingers crossed…