Christmas Eve Traditions

So , have you been doing any of your own Christmas traditions today then ? I have. Yes, I've been carrying out the tradition of compiling the quiz for the Christmas Hangover quiz on Thursday in the rugby club . What do you mean it isn't very festive ? It isn't much of a tradition either. I don't always end up compiling the quiz for the one which comes after Christmas but before New Year. Still, the fact is that when I do, I tend to do it on Christmas Eve. See , tradition.

What complicates it slightly is the fact that I also did the quiz last week. My voice is only just recovering. I'd better explain this. I'm sure I've mentioned the microphone / sound system problems we've had in the club in a recent post. Well, apparently the club bought a new microphone. ( Good luck with that. We've tried it before and it seems that it's the system that's useless, not the mike. Still, soldier on.)OK, so we have a new microphone, and now IT HAS TO BE KEPT BEHIND THE BAR AND NO ONE EXCEPT THE BAR STAFF CAN TOUCH IT. Fair enough, I don't claim to be technical, and so I've no problem with the bar staff setting it up. Except for the fact that the only one who knew where it was was not actually working last Thursday evening. The upshot of which was that I ended up standing by the bar and shouting out the questions all evening.

I never took Drama at school ( although I have taught it. It's a long story - it wasn't big and it wasn't clever and I'm not proud of it.) I did do a bit of acting at school though, and I remember having watched some desperate old luvvie on a TV show saying that the secret of shouting, or speaking loudly is to do it from the diaphragm, and not from the vocal chords. Easier said than done, but I managed it - 8 rounds of 10 questions and a handout ( and no charge for playing in it either - how much value is that ? )

I was struggling a bit on Friday , which was the last day of the school term, but I managed it. So I'm hoping that someone on this coming Thursday will have an idea of where to find the mike, and that the mike itself will deign to work properly for more than the round and a half that the old one used to give us. As for the quiz itself, well, free from time constraints I put it together the old fashioned way today - just me, a pad of paper, and the LAM towers quiz library. I'll be honest, I really enjoyed putting it together. All of which probably indicates that it will go down like the proverbial lead balloon on Thursday. Time will tell. In the interim, may I take this opportunity to wish all readers , and everyone who has ever taken the time and trouble to leave a comment a very, very Merry Christmas.