The more things change, the more they stay the same

Back in the day I used to sing in Wellington Youth Choir and then NZ Secondary Students' Choir. Every so often when I was singing in these choirs, we would get a piece of music with the stamp 'National Youth Choir - authorised copy when in colour'. Sometimes the stamp was in colour, sometimes it wasn't. Every time I got one of these copies I would imagine that it had previously been handled by some singing deity, and I had to slavishly follow any written directions even if they were in another part.

Then I joined National Youth Choir, and discovered that the singing deities were in fact human. Very human.

I joined a choir in London a few months back, and one of the pieces we received for our upcoming Christmas concert is embossed with the stamp 'Harry Christopher - The Sixteen'.

Serious deja vu.