NB - A New Chapter - 13. ANC Chapter 13

Although it was getting late in Western Australia, I hoped that Rev will answer her phone, as I dialled the house number on the farm. “Rectory, err I mean Deepdale Estate, Annette speaking” I heard a familiar voice say, “Hi Rev, sorry to call you so late, but I have a favour to ask you” I said happily. “Hello Sebastian, I hope you are taking great care of my son, over there” Annette said.

“Yes, he is fine, I have just spoken to him actually, he is doing a little side trip for me, and will be back tomorrow afternoon. The reason I called is because, while on the phone to Kyle just now, Xander asked him if they could do some more singing in some churches, while we are in Scandinavia” I announced.

“I see, so you are wondering if I have any ideas on that do you?” Annette responded, “Yes, I was hoping you could wave your magic wand and come up with a few options” I said smiling. “Well, there is a thing called the European Diocese of the Anglican Church, so I am sure there will be some Anglican churches in your area, let me make some enquiries and I will get back to you” Annette said to me.

“Thanks Rev, you are one very special lady” I replied, which had Annette chuckling, “Flattery will get you everywhere young man, speak to you soon, goodnight” Annette said and she ended the call. After the call to Annette had finished, I went online again, as I had a new idea on a holiday, and I wasn’t to make some enquiries, about getting a holiday booked at short notice.

After a little bit of searching, I found what I was looking for, and saw that the prices were fairly reasonable, so I made a call to enquire about availability, and was happy to learn that I was able to make a booking for an 8-day holiday, starting on Friday, which meant that we had 4 ½ days to look around Scandinavia some more, and I decided to keep the new plans for the second half of the holidays to myself for now.

The following morning, we just relaxed and did virtually nothing, which was nice for a change, as we waited for Kyle and his two friends to arrive in Sweden, with their estimated time of arrival being just after 11am, leaving the others at the hotel, I travelled by limo to the airport to collect them, and bring them back to the hotel, arriving back just after 12.15pm.

Once Kyle’s two friends had been checked in and they quickly settled into their suite, we all gathered in the hotel restaurant for lunch. “Right, now that we are finally all together, I can start to let you know what we have planned for the rest of the holidays. Kyle, Xander and myself will be spending the next few days working on a special project, and I will be leaving the twins to give the rest of you Aussies a tour of Sweden during that time.

Then on Thursday evening, we will all be flying to Heathrow-London, where we will spend one night at a hotel that our family is using, before we start an 8- day canal boat cruise, along some of the UK’s canals, in two canal boats, each one having two double and two single bunks. Apart from Xander and I remaining on one boat the whole time, the rest of you are welcome to change around, so you can take it in turns to sleep in a double bed, drive the canal boats, plus opening and closing the water locks” I announced to everyone.

“Which canal are we going to be taking, there are so many of them in the UK?” Louis asked me, “Well it is in Wales actually, so we can all have fun with trying to pronounce the Welsh town names, the canal we will be going on is the Llangollen Canal, which is 88-mile long, with a total of 42 locks, 6 tunnels and 4 aqueducts” I said. “What is an aca duck?” Xander asked me, mispronouncing the name, which made me smile.

“It’s pronounced an aqueduct, and it is a tall bridge, that holds a kind of waterproof tube, to carry the canal boats across a wide valley”” I explained as best as I could, “Oh man those things are scary, I will not be looking over the side when we go onto one of them” Kyle commented, “Why is it scary Kyle?” Xander asked me, “Because my dear cousin, a lot of these bridges are about 120 feet high and 1000 feet long” Joachim explained.

“Wow, cool, I can hardly wait” Xander exclaimed, and both of the twins didn’t look too pleased about his eagerness to be on the aqueduct, which made me chuckle. “So, what is this special project you are doing?” Jake asked me, and I glanced over to Kyle. “Most of you guys know who my best mate was, and that he died a few years back, what you may not know is that Huon had a son, this young man here, Alexander Hugh Devonport, all thou he prefers to be called Xander.

He is now in the care of his cousins, Sebastian and the twins, what you may not know is that Huon and I did a number of secret projects, of which the main one was singing at a number of churches and chapels around Western Australia, which were broadcasted on the ABS television Sunday programme” Kyle explained.

“You and Huon were the mysterious singers?” Simon asked surprised, “Yes, that is right, and more recently, young Xander joined me in singing at his father’s memorial service in Stanley, on the Falklands. Since we have been here in Sweden, Xander has asked if we can do something similar to what his father and I did in Western Australia.

We are waiting for my mother, who you know is an Anglican minister, to organise some locations, where Xander and I can sing” Kyle explained. “Oh wow, can we come along and watch you guys sing please?” Ben asked, and Kyle looked over towards me, “Yes, I guess that will be no problem, we are just waiting for Annette to get back to us, and because of the time difference, the earliest that she will call us back will be about 3pm our time” I explained.

Once we had eaten, Kyle and his three friends went to explore some of Stockholm, promising to be back by 4pm, to hear what the news is about the project. The twins decided that they wanted to go and do some shopping, and Xander asked me is he could go with them, and I reluctantly agreed.

I decided to retreat to my suite, where I contacted the company office to get an update on what is happening with the family business, and I spent the next few hours on the phone and dealing with emails. When I hung up from an extra-long phone call, my mobile rang straight away, and the caller ID said it was Annette. “Hello, I finally got through, I have been trying to call you for the past half an hour” Annette exclaimed.

“I am sorry Rev, I was talking to people at my office in Switzerland, the business does keep running, even if I’m not in the country” I replied, “Oh, I see, ok. Well I have some good news for you. As I had mentioned before, there is the Anglican Diocese of Europe, and I managed to speak to someone at the main office, and they were too happy to assist with my request for access to a number of Anglican Churches in Scandinavia.

They have seen your cousin and my son’s performances on the ABC Sunday programme, so it appears that they are a lot more famous that we had expected. If you check your email in a few minutes after this call, you will receive a list of churches and chapels that will be made available for you for three days as of tomorrow morning, and it includes, appointment times, so you may need to organise a jet to get to the other locations on time” Annette said to me.

“That is fantastic news Rev, I do appreciate you doing this for us, and I will be sending another donation to your church for your assistance” I replied. “Actually, if you are planning to do something like that I have an idea that I want to run by you, I was wondering if you would be interested in funding a special project, to be located on Deepdale farm” Annette said to me.

“Really, that sounds intriguing, how about emailing me the details, and once I have read your proposal, I will give you a ring so we can discuss the idea” I responded, “That would be wonderful, thanks Sebastian. Good luck with your latest project, and give my son a hug for me, and tell him to give me a call” Annette said to me.

“I will do that, he is out exploring Stockholm with his three friends, they will be back in an hours’ time, so I will get him to call you. Thanks again Rev, I will talk to you soon, bye for now” I said and we ended the call. A few moments later I sent a text message to Kyle, “Call your mother, she wants to speak to you”, and I received a thumb’s up message in reply.

About twenty minutes later, after a short rest, I logged into my email account and found the email from Annette. “Dear Sebastian, please find enclosed the list and appointment days and times for visits to the cathedrals of all five Scandinavian countries, also there is a three-man film team organised to travel with you, to record the events, can you please organise transport and accommodation for them also. Regards Annette”.

I wasn’t surprised about the film crew, and I was happy to organise for them to tag along to record the singing at each venue, what I was surprised about, was that Annette had said 5 Scandinavia countries, and this made me a little puzzled, until I looked at the second page and saw the list.

Tuesday - 10am, Church of St Peter and St Sigrid, Stockholm, Tuesday - 3pm, St Nicholas Church, Helsinki. Wednesday - 10am, St Alban Church, Copenhagen, Wednesday - 3pm, St Edmunds Church, Oslo, Thursday - 10am, Church of Hallgrimur, Reykjavik, Thursday - 3pm, Royal Chapel Stockholm. When I saw the last location, I was a little surprised that a second location had been organised in Stockholm, and I presumed that the name meant that it must be a church used regularly by the royal family.

When everyone had returned from their shopping and sightseeing, we gathered in café just inside the hotel, for some afternoon tea. “So, my mum informs me that she sent you a list of places that we will be going” Kyle said to me, “Yes mate, one location in each of the 5 capital cities, with two locations in Stockholm” I replied. “Five, I thought there are only 4 countries in Scandinavia” Kyle responded, “no mate, Iceland is part of Scandinavia also” I replied smiling.

I let them all know that we would have a three-person film crew tagging along with us, and I had organised an executive jet to transport us to each of the locations, with overnight stops in Helsinki, Finland and Oslo, Norway, before returning to Stockholm for the final appointment at a chapel in the city, I announced to the group. With a busy few days ahead of us, we decided to retire to our suites for a short rest before dinner, and an early night to bed.

The next morning, just as we were finishing breakfast, one of the hotel staff approached our table. “Excuse me Mr Wagner, there is three people waiting at reception, to see you” the staff member informed me, “Thank you, I was expecting them, they are just a little bit early” I replied and gave the staff member a small tip for his assistance.

“Looks like our film crew are already here, if everyone is finished, let’s get this project started” I said to everyone, and we made our way out to the reception area, where we met the film crew director – Otto, the cameraman – Levi and the sound recordist – Max. “It is a great honour to me you Mr Davies, we have seen your previous series of recordings, and we will do our very best to do as good a job as before” Otto said to Kyle.

“Just make sure that their faces are not shown in the recordings, and I am sure you will do great, you do know the locations we are going to?” I responded, “Yes, Mr Wagner, Stockholm and Helsinki today, Copenhagen and Oslo tomorrow, and Reykjavik and back to Stockholm on Thursday” Otto replied, and I smiled and nodded in agreement, as we sat down in the reception area to await our organised transport.

“What is the second location here in Stockholm?” Levi asked me, “Um, I think that it is called the Chapel Royal” I replied, and the three film crew members looked totally shocked, “What is wrong?” Kyle asked when he saw their expression, “Well, since you are not from here, you wouldn’t know, but the Chapel Royal is actually located inside the Royal Palace, the main residence of the King and Queen of Sweden” Max explained.

“Oh, I see, well my mother is an Anglican Minister, it was she who organised with the Anglican Diocese of Europe to plan out this project’s locations” Kyle responded. Over the next three days, we were kept busy with travelling all over Scandinavia, seeing some spectacular churches in each capital city, and Iceland was an amazing place to visit, even if it was for just a short while.

On the return journey back to Stockholm, Xander who had been dozing for most of the trip, woke up and yawned, “Kyle, what do you think this last place will be like? Will it be grander, than the other places where we have sung?” Xander asked, I have no idea mate, we will just have to wait and see, won’t we” Kyle replied. Two limos collected us from the airport, and we went back to the hotel to have a late lunch, and to shower and change, before our last appointment this afternoon.

As we arrived in the hotel reception area, my name was called out, and I made my way to the reception deck. “Mr Wagner, I have an urgent message for you from the Royal Palace” the receptionist said to me, handing over a large envelope. Looking inside the envelope, I found a two-page letter. The first page was instructions on how to get to the palace, and to get to the Royal Chapel, and the second was a short note.

“Mr Wagner and family, I wish to welcome you to the Chapel Royal, I hope that your project has gone well so far, and we look forward to seeing the end results. Kind regards, Victoria of Sweden”, I showed the letter to Otto, who looked a little surprised at the signature. “This is from Her Royal Highness, the Crown Princess of Sweden, the King’s oldest daughter” Otto explained.

“Well, we better do a good job then, if she is sending us good wishes for the project” Kyle replied, and this made me chuckle. About fifteen minutes later, the two limos entered the main entrance of the Royal Palace, and we were directed to the Royal Chapel, so we could complete our final event of the project. At each location, Kyle and Xander sang four hymns, each one was different, and the acoustics of each church was different.

When Kyle and Xander had just finished recoding the final hymn, there was the sound of a bang, as a door swung back hitting some furniture, and a little girl of about 6, was chasing after a little boy of about 2. When a lady walked in and rapidly followed, the three film crew members suddenly bowed their heads, and the rest of us were not sure what to do, as we didn’t know who they were.

Once the boy had be caught by, we presume to be his older sister, and the lady caught up to them, she turned to face us. “Your Royal Highness” Otto said clearly, and the rest of us stood up straight and bowed our heads, as they approached us. “Ma’am, may I introduce Mr Sebastian Wagner a Swiss businessman, his twin brothers, Joachim and Louis, their young cousin, Alexander Devonport, their good friend, Mr Kyle Davies, and three of Kyles friends from Australia, Simon, Jake and Benjamin” Otto announced, making the formal introductions.