A wonderful tea, lots of fun and laughter, community singing (Daisy, daisy; Maybe its because I'm a Londoner), Jellied eels (left)*, Father Christmas, presents, mince pies, carols, a talk by yours truly, and the Bermondsey Waiters Song, sung each year by the resis (Salmon residential workers) and the young people who, smartly dressed with bow ties etc, wait on the old folk and began the afternoon by serenading us:
CHORUS
Oh we are Bermondsey Waiters we are
We want to serve you like you was a star
Mince pies and rosie** and plenty of cheer
Just because it is Christmas at this time of year
I once was a waiter up in the West End
The nobby old diners sent me round the bend
I was running around and it soon got my 'ealth
So one night I said "There's a soup, help yourself!"
Singing we are the Bermondsey waiters we are
The old people's party is what we like best
We can serve you with style and with plenty of zest..
I've waited on people all over the place
Always with dirty great smiles on my face
But Bermondsey Bermondsey's where I belong
I come back each year just to sing this song
Singing we are the Bermondsey waiters we are...
* * * * * * * * * *
In my talk I started off by asking people to guess the most popular boys and girls names in the UK this year (I read out the top five for each gender, headed by Harry for the boys & Amelia for the girl) and then I spoke about the boy with two names: Immanuel (God with us) and Jesus (rescuer, saviour).
The names, I said reveal who Jesus is and what he came to do.
____________________________________________________________
* despite being a dyed-in-the-wool south Londoner I do draw the line at consuming Jellied Eels. My dining companions who assured me that the eels did not come from the sea but 'out of the river' ('somewhere near Southend', they said airilly) and that the jelly was made from pure juice of the eel ('delicious') weren't exactly selling the experience to me.
** rosie=Cockney rhyming slang for tea (Rosie Lee)
No comments:
Post a Comment