It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

I'm not the most enthusiastic person when it comes to Christmas, in fact in many ways I'm a bit of a Scrooge. I can't get into the "Christmas spirit" until I have played a few Christmas gigs, well this weekend I have managed two. Yesterday evening the Brass Band played at Brookwell Park Lido, maybe not the most prestigious of venues, but alongside the choir from St Paul's Church over the road we had a great time, playing carols and Christmas songs. We had a good audience with a great age range, from some quite small children to some ladies of much more "mature" years. For once my wife came along as well, we had a good time, and on the way home stopped for a quick drink, all in all a good evening.

Today I took a little trip up to town with Mrs T (my pre first world war Hawkes and Sons BBb Cavalry model tuba) to join with around 40 other tuba players to play some carols on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral. I missed this event last year but have played the previous four or five, and I suspect that this was one of the smaller turn outs. I don't know why since the weather was nice and mild, and there had been a fair amount of publicity so I would have expected more like 70 or 80. Still there is nothing like the sound of massed tubas playing carols in four part harmony, it was good to meet up with some old friends. It's a bit early for there to be any photos available on the Internet so this is one I took on my phone as I arrived, I shall be checking over the next few days and if there are any good ones I will stick them up.