Christmas in London

I had a great time celebrating Christmas in London.

Work has closed for the year since Christmas eve until the second day of the new year. This means I'm currently on a long break! Yay!

But this is how most of the companies in the UK operate. Christmas is a time where offices will be shut for the entire week until the new year. This means staff have to take compulsory leaves for those days that are not covered by the bank and public holidays. This is similar to the Malaysian Chinese New Year and Hari Raya festive seasons.

I have celebrated three Christmas-es in the UK now and each of them was in different cities. The first was in Cambridge, second Reading and third London. Reading and Cambridge were similar in many ways. Both were small cities, so moving around was not a problem when the public transportation system was shut during Christmas. And because it's not a big place, people could move around by foot or bicycles.

However, it is different in London. London is a huge city and it is really difficult without the tube or buses running.

I had dinner at Fiona's. Planning for midnight mass was a little tricky because the buses would stop running by midnight. Going to the church was not a problem but going back to my place was. So I had to choose a church that I could reach easily and one that I could walk home afterward. I chose St George's Cathedral. It was located between her place and mine, which was just perfect!

Dinner at Fiona's

Dinner was good. We didn't have turkey because no one likes it. So we just settled for chicken. There were 8 of us and we had a potluck dinner. It was a fusion of English and Chinese. Everyone brought a dish. I was in charge of vegetables. Being a meat person, this was a challenge. I prepared the one which I was most familiar with. The plates were wiped clean so I guess it was okay. I hope I didn't kill anyone that night. The last I checked everyone was accounted for.

I left the place at 11.30pm for the midnight mass. I reached in the nick of time and managed to find a good seat. The mass ended at 1.30am. I had to walk home. Thank God it wasn't too far. It took me about 40 minutes to reach. I was knackered by the time I went back to my room.

The next day was Christmas Day. I cycled to Westminster Cathedral in the early hours of the day for the sung mass. I decided to cycle after learning how exhausted I could get from a 40-minute walk from St George's Cathedral, few hours before. Shame on me for saying this. Oh what pride holds of a marathon runner?!

Westminster Cathedral is known for its boys' choir, just as how King's College Cambridge is. The only difference is denomination. The church was packed. I've already expected this, so I went there early for a nice seat and I had.

Westminster Cathedral

The mass was in English and interjected with Latin. The choir sang in Latin most of the time. People could get lost easily if they couldn't follow what were said in Latin. The boys' voices were angelic. I wished I could take a video of the event but I don't think I was allowed to do so. At the end of the mass, many cameras were raised and flashing away. I took mine out too but not for the sake of it. I've already wanted to record this. So this came as an opportunity.

Below is a snippet of the choirs' closing song - O Come all ye faithful.

Westminster Cathedral Choir*

On my way home, I decided to detour to Oxford Street. Just wanted to see how's it like over there without the double deckers and shops opening. I know it's sad. I should've done something more interesting but what could I do at such an early part of the day? And my radius of mobility was already limited by how far I was prepared to cycle. Oxford Street came out to be a good option.

I took some shots of Oxford and Regent Streets on Christmas Day. It was eerily silent. I could hear a pin drop in Oxford Street! This is how I'd imagine London to look if Will Smith acted "I am Legend" here:

Above: Regent Street; Below: Oxford Street

*Additional info of the Westminster Cathedral Choir here:


Who knows if your son is talented with music and studies, he could well qualify to this prestigious school!