Christmas Eve Eve

Had a pleasant day today, shopping and hanging about during the afternoon and a concert with Slim in the evening. The atmosphere in the city was quite pleasant today, relaxed and friendly and easy-going, even though the streets were nearly as crowded with shoppers as Friday had been.

The concert was in a church in Bad Cannstat, on the other side of the river: Aaron Copeland's "Quiet City," a moody and thoughtful short piece, very nice late-night stuff; and J.S.Bach's "Christmas Oratorium," which hardly needs me to add to its reknown. Well played and sung by an ambitious-amateur choir and chamber orchestra.

And there still hasn't been a frost! (It is currently below zero out at the airport, but that's a thousand feet higher and out on the flatland. Down here in the valley it's still above zero.) My sister reports -5°C and only a small amount of snow, both of which are worryingly unusual for the time of year. When I was there in 2004, I arrived two days after a storm that deposited a metre of snow overnight. There were snowbanks taller than a house in every parking lot, most streets still hadn't been ploughed.

So, I shall be here for Christmas Eve (which is the significant day in Germany, everything stops while everyone stays home), and then to G's family in the Schwarzwald for a few days. And that means, dear reader, that there will be an interruption in service. Sigh. 55 days in a row, how sad to break the run—but there's no chance of getting online down there.