Monday, September 24, 2007

The Thames in September...

...can be glorious. We had niece L. staying with us over the weekend and spent Sunday afternoon on the river. Things began with Sung Mass at Westminster Cathedral (if you live in or near London and haven't heard that glorious choir, you are missing something excellent) and then some hurrying about arranging which boat and where to meet etc...a picnic lunch in St James' Park - reached via streets packed with cyclists as there was a massive and very cheerful cycling rally in London all day...and then a splendid bit of just-to-the-minute timing as Jamie joined us on the pier moments before the boat was due to leave - and off we all went together, chugging along past the Palace of Westminster and down on towards Hammersmith and Putney and Mortlake and Kew.

The commentaries on the boats are priceless, as anyone who has experienced one of them will know...and there are some nuggets of information there: I had no idea, for instance, that the (Latin) words of the Our Father are carved in the stonework of the Houses of Parliament, along with all the kings and queens and heraldic devices...

At Kew, we disembarked, and walked down to the Green - where one can have tea in the churchyard of St Anne's church - all done by volunteers, and proper scones with jam and cream, and cake. There was cricket on the green, and the golden September sun filtering through the trees, and the bell ringing for Evensong.

3 comments:

gemoftheocean said...

You did all this cool stuff and don't post picture?! What are you THINKING?! Get with the program, there's work to be done! You write about all these neat iconic things, and there's no pictures?! ARRRGGGHHH!!!! Woman, why do you think I read the English blogs? Now don't go telling me you don't have a digital camera to make it easy. That's what money's for...you can't take it with you, spend some of it.

Anonymous said...

I will email you my pic of you and UJ having tea when it gets developed. Yes, developed. I am, like you, living in the stone age of camera technology. Much love and thanks for a lovely weekend. xxxxxx

gemoftheocean said...

Ack! Lucy and Joanna, dahlinks. Those digital cameras can be had for nada these days. Go forth and jiggle some money out of thy wallets. Last year I found a nice little Vivicam 6300 on sale for $100 bucks. It's pocket sized, and now I can't live without it. It even does movie clips, which I didn't even know until I got it home. 6.0 megapixels. Add a memory card, and you've got yourself a friend. I used to take pictures all the time -- but never got them developed! Now I take them, and they're stored on my computer in seconds. If I need a print I can copy to disk and take down to the drugstore. Best $100 I ever shook loose from my mattress.