Do you know your Hallelujahs?

Two versions of Hallelujah were heading for the top of the Christmas charts. The X Factor winner, Alexandra Burke, and the late Jeff Buckley scooped the Christmas No 1 and 2 slots yesterday with their covers of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, the first time in more than 40 years that one title has secured the top two places in the charts. Cohen himself came in at No 36.

I guess there is a version of Hallelujah for everyone. Mine will be the one in Shrek that plays as the titular monster feels ugly.

Yesterday, the Sainsbury’s staff at Austin Drive entertained Xmas shoppers with their beautiful carol singing. They added a festive cheer to the harassed shoppers. The Coventry scouts were there helping with the packing. All doing their bit for charity. We popped next door to the Range Xmas sales and I came out poorer with 3 pots of plants!!!

It was also the winter solstice. It celebrates a key point in the turning of the wheel of the year with the gradually lengthening nights and shortening days. My Xmas lights will be switched on much earlier now. The Xmas tree is up, decorations are out of their boxes and scattered all over the place. The table is groaning with Xmassy titbits which hopefully will lasts us till next year (fingers crossed).

I spent the evening watching Shaun Murphy clinching a dramatic 10-9 victory over Marco Fu to win the UK Snooker Championship in Telford. Meanwhile, the Sky Blues boys twice squandered the lead as they were held to a draw by Ipswich Town.

I missed 2 Xmas work functions. I have got a chest infection and couldn’t sleep at all cos of the coughing. I only managed to get an appointment on Xmas eve morning. If only I can get antibiotics without a prescription…

Found out on the Intranet that Warwick University is ranked top in the Midlands and seventh in the country for research. The government’s annual Research Assessment Exercise has just taken place giving all universities in the country an overall grading for research and a grading for research in each subject.

The film studies department at University is the top in the country for research. The Horticultural Research Institute which is part of the university but based at Wellesbourne is also top in the country. Maths, history and French are rated second, economics and Italian are third, classics and statistics are fourth and the Warwick Business School is fifth.

And to round things up to be a top research academic institution, you need a top class library and librarians. So well-done to everyone.

As they say hallelujah… and the fire alarm just went off…