The house next door has a temporary rental on its bottom two floors. There's never been a blasting party there. The temporary renters tend to be business people, or quiet families, or middle-aged-girl getaways. This is not an unfettered Airbnb part-ay spot we're talking about. But there is outdoor space, and sometimes the folks are up late with a bottle of wine. Or, if it's business guys, with cigars. And the outdoor space is about 10 feet from my bedroom window. People can get a bit loud. Fortunately, they're not usually louding after midnight. So while it may be annoying, the annoyance is, like the rentals, temporary.
Still, I have on the rare occasion hollered out the window- very nicely and genteelly hollered - asking when the gathering will end, or requesting that folks use their indoor voices, even if they are technically outdoors.
So I do understand that sleep interruptus can make one cranky.
As it did the Anglican Bishop of Fulham, when a concert in his church went a bit overlong and disturbed his peace.
Perhaps he would have more forgiving if the choir had been performing music that was sacred rather than profane, but the City Academy Voices choir had just finished up a rousing rendition of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me." Which did anything but get the good bishop to love them.
As they were about to perform their last song, a man appeared on stage wearing a blue dressing gown with no shoes. He took the mic, described their singing as a “terrible racket” and told them to get out, leaving the 360-odd people in the room shocked and dumbfounded.
“You are in my house, can you leave it now please,” he said. The man, it appears, was Jonathan Baker, the bishop of Fulham. In a video posted on social media, the bishop can be seen telling the choir it’s past 10pm and calls for the night to be “over." (Source: The Guardian)
Perhaps Bishop Baker didn't want to hear the final number, which was scheduled to be Abba's "Dancing Queen." Which I imagine could have gotten plenty raucus.
The choir isn't associated with the church, but the church does hire itself out as a concert venue, and City Academy Voices has performed there in the past. One choir member thought the bishop in the bathrobe was a Monty Pythonesque part of the show:
She said: “At first, I thought it was a comedy act or some actor doing a scene. But when we realised, oh no, this isn’t an act, this is real, it was just a bit surreal.”
...Describing the sequence of events, the choir member said: “We were singing away. This was our penultimate song. Then, we were going to do one final number and get everybody out of the aisles and dance.
“Then, all of a sudden, the lights went out. At first I thought there may have been a power cut. But then the instruments were still playing.
“We were picking back up to sing when all of a sudden everything went quiet. I could see this guy in what looked like a dressing gown talking to the audience on the mic.”
After the Bishop's appearance, a church worker came out asking everyone to leave quietly, telling choir and audience that "this is a residential home." (Well, actually it is a church. But the Bishop of Fulham may well think of the church as his home-away.)
But the choir and audience had other ideas. Racket-smacket. They started booing. And shouting. They were anticipating that dancing queen in the aisles ending, and they were annoyed and cranky that they were being denied. As they made their way off the stage, the choir decided to perform a capella, much to the enjoyment of the crowd.
If the Bishop had just waited another few minutes, the show would have been over. The reaction to his entrance prolonged the show beyond those five minutes.
The next day, the Bishop contacted the show's organizers to apologize for his be-robed (just not bishop's robe) appearance. Seems the show started a bit late due to technical issues, and had run a bit over.
But it was only a bit after 10 p.m.
Guess the Bishop of Fulham is an early to bed, early to riser.
Those in attendance will likely be talking and laughing about this ending for a good long while.
Sure am sorry I missed the concert.
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Image Source: Sky News
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