I had an awesome evening. →[More:]
I met my friend in the living hell that is Oxford Street today (she doesn't know the West End so the potential for her getting lost was great, hence 'outside John Lewis' was fairly safe).

We had an early dinner here (I had sausage and mash followed by rhubarb & ginger crumble with custard).

Then on to the Royal Albert Hall for the Carols By Candlelight concert.

It was brilliant. The orchestra, conductor, soprano and reader were all dressed in 18th century costume. The choir was superb and it was a mix of favourite Christmas carols (which we could join in with), other carols which the choir performed and baroque music - Handel and Vivaldi - including the intro to my favourite oratorio - 'Gloria'.

I have a confession though - when we sung the Twelve Days of Christmas, I sang the Twelve Days of Cantona instead. Well, it's a tradition amongst United fans, anyway.

We didn't have great seats - we left it too late to book - but the atmosphere was terrific and at the end those of us in the Arena (the big area in front of the stage) were all on our feet whooping and clapping.

The show wasn't over until no, not the fat lady sang (in fact, the soprano was very slim, and she had one of those great coloratura voices that suited the music perfectly), but until Santa arrived. He was a great Santa too.

I really had a great time. For those of you who missed it from my 3-point update yesterday, here's the link to a little video of past concerts.