A Perfect Epidemic of Brass Bands

Yesterday I drove north to Durham (a seven hours journey, including an hour at motorway service stations) and drove back home today, another seven hours, transporting our elder student son - and a huge load of dirty laundry - for his Christmas break.

It’s always a joy to visit Durham...even when the visit is only for 17 hours - and it was dark for 12 of these - even when it’s cold and wet.

It was Saturday night so Geordie revellers in skimpy outfits were flooding into town, heading for the night clubs. There was lots of laughing and banter.

 

By the bridge a lonely busker in a red hat was playing loudly. But everyone wanted to be indoors on such a night.

 

We did too. At Oldfields’ restaurant, after a steaming pea and ham soup, a decent glass of merlot and a fish casserole, the evening was transformed.

 

In the distance, high above the trees, I saw the twin towers of the cathedral loom out of the inky darkness, dominating the town.

 

Walking carefully over the flagstones and rain-slicked cobbled stones, past the old half-timbered buildings, I progressed upwards until I finally reached the 900-year-old cathedral, splendidly floodlit. The castle beside it was in darkness, the faint outline of its battlements just visible in the darkness.   

I moved forward to take another photo – and then disaster. I stumbled over a kerb, the camera flew out of my hands and hit the ground with a tinkling sound that suggested it would be a long (and expensive) time before it worked again.

It’s tempting to remember the trip as the occasion that I destroyed a camera. Instead, I remember it for the perfect epidemic of Salvation Army brass bands in the city and surrounding areas. Their jaunty carols lifted the spirits and reminded me that Christmas is both a holiday and a holy day. A big thanks to the various bands I saw in the motorway service station, the city centre and in the Durham Tesco’s. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen ... Joy to the World...Once in Royal David's City...brilliant!