Wednesday, August 26

Egalité


I take the Shakespeares to St. Martin's-the-Field - inside, pictured - hoping there will be a noon recital but no luck (or lucky for them). I learn that 2006 excavations as part of a £36 million "renewal program" uncovered a grave dated about 410. Wow. My history with the place a bit more recent when Sonnet and I attended a tour of the various stones used around Trafalgar Square. This would be September 1997 and we were joined by 30 or so old-age pensioners and youngest by at least 20 years. Not loving that time, no sir. But I did learn, and do recall, that portland stone (technically a limestone) used as a building stone throughout these British Isles, notably in major public buildings in London like St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace and most recently the new BBC Broadcasting house at Portland Place. And of course St Martins (the earliest building being Church Ope Cove, Portland, in 1080). It is a beautiful rock too. We were encouraged to spot the various shells and fossils embedded in the chalk which only make it more interesting -- I point this out to Eitan and Madeleine, who roll their eyes - so what? Another attractive feature that the chalk self-cleaning but in reality, the traffic pollution too much and so the make-up two years ago.

"Church of the Ever Open Door"
-- Vicar Dick Sheppard from the early 20th Century when work with homeless people started