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Chris Loyn, Can Tenor 1

Thank goodness, to recover from the chronic exhaustion caused by a high frequency of demanding and stressful concerts on tour, we can always trust to get a good lie in and face each new day well refreshed and raring to go. No I’m obviously kidding – it was 5:30am again for us. Made worse when Teri’s room card stopped working and locked her out so the unflappable James Proctor had to call campus security, who were not best pleased, especially when the card mysteriously started working again when they arrived… But with characteristic generosity and foresight, Graham supplied at least 4 different types of doughnuts and orange juice to raise morale on this bleak morning and, with beautiful snowy views of NY city and, later, Boston, the journey was actually alright (as coach journeys go). Morale was further raised when the tour emergency contingency funds were quite necessarily spent on purchasing DVDs.

When we finally arrived at the Massachusetts’s General Hospital we were warmly welcomed by Mark Poznansky, an ex-fellow of Clare, now respected clinician and research scientist, who had arranged our concert in the hospital chapel. As well as being heard by the small but appreciative audience, the concert was broadcast live on the hospital radio, to thousands of staff and patients on the wards. We then had a free afternoon to explore Boston which I spent following the ‘Liberty trail’, learning all about how British rule had been overthrown - a war close to our hearts after all with Lord Cornwallis, one of the British generals involved, being a Clare alumnus…

This was one of the only free evenings all week, so the choir went out for dinner together in Boston, with the restaurant chosen by Mikey McGovern, one of several Americans in the choir. Although most of us couldn’t order a beer (I myself being just 9 days shy of my 21^st birthday) we had a lovely evening and, as day 3 of tour draws to a close, choir spirit could be likened to the bush seen by Moses as sung by us every day in the 2^nd O antiphon: burning as strong as ever and totally unquenchable.