Coventry - the new

The new Coventry Cathedral is built beside the old.  It is magnificent, and an excellent guide helped us appreciate it.  As well there were preparations for (yet another) memorial to 100 years since the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, so we were surrounded by rehearsals of organ music and singing, and for the first time in a long time, a full military rendition of God Save the Queen.

At the altar end of the church (don't know the technical term), there is a tapestry - it weighs a ton. It was woven in France, using French and Australian wool - so we got a bit of a look-in there. Should have checked the proportion of each!

The stained glass can only be seen from the back of the church, as you are leaving after the service.  As you enter, you do not know what is ahead, until you get to the end - oh dear - a bit like life - or walking the camino. 

The pillars were narrower at the base, rising to a wooden ceiling.  Shades of Gaudi's architecture in Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

And you can see the two sets of organ pipes on either side.

And this is the stained glass window beside the font. You can see some of the servicemen waiting/preparing for the Evensong.

There was much more, all presented very well by our guide, John.

It reminded me of St Patrick's, Parramatta.  When the old cathedral burned down, the opportunity was taken to build a bright new church beside the old.

Time to catch our bus back to Leicester.  We could have spent more time in Coventry.

Pennies for heaven - and follow the money

At the new Coventry Cathedral, there are pennies in floor - strategically arranged.  We were told that they were laid in the floor to allow the choir and the clergy to follow in a neat procession.  As KM was heard to say "follow the money".  Those with whom we discuss neo-liberal politics regularly will appreciate the humour.

BTW, apparently they are all for 1962, the year of consecration.   And disclaimer - got this pic from the internet.

Elections - Derby - and food

We woke up this morning, had breakfast and then came back to our room to watch an ABC live stream of election night.  Heard Anthony Green say "Not tonight".  After 9pm your time, we went and caught the train to Derby.

The weather was good, there was the inevitable rain, but it does go away.

Derby is a sprawling city, by UK standards. 

We saw the cathedral, with its ring of 10 bells - the oldest ring of 10 bells in the World (they say).  The first was the tenor (19cwt 1lb) cast in 1520 by Seliok of Nottingham.  The rest were cast one by one between 1607 and up till 1693, by a variety of Nottingham foundries.  They were retuned in 1927 by John Taylor.

Coffee has been a challenge this trip.  Oh well, we are in the land famous for tea drinking.

But there is a wonderful Keralan restaurant in Leicester.  We have been there two nights in a row. it is popular with locals too.

Then we caught up with the final election results for the night - which was no result.  Oh well, the Liberals will tear themselves apart after this result and who knows where it will all end.  Like the UK, we are leaderless for a while.

Richard III - my kingdom for a horse

Tourism in Leicester  has been given a huge boost by the discovery of the bones of Richard III  under a carpark near the Leicester Cathedral in 2012.  After DNA confirmation, he was re-interred in the Cathedral in 2015.  Quite a story.

Just like they do to identify an unknown skull on CSI, this is the facial re-creation of Richard III from the skull discovered in the carpark.  Presumably they took an educated guess at the clothing.

This is his new tomb in  Leicester Cathedral

A bit of an improvement on this:

 Apparently selfies are not suitably solemn.

And a new statue of the man himself.

And even the pubs were getting in on the act.   Richard (a Plantagenet) lost the Battle of Bosworth to Henry VII, the first of the Tudors and the father of Henry VIII.  Anne Boleyn might have wished the outcome was different.

Dinner

A lovely catch-up with bell-ringing friends from CCSL who have returned to UK.  Also good Keralan food.

Bits & pieces

Leicester has their own dollar shops.

And you can buy electronic cigarettes.  You could smell strawberry all down the street! Interesting how the image is the same as the fifties - smoking is sexy!

Another shop - an Australian company.  Apparently the chain was closing down, leading to 200+ redundancies in the UK.  I had not heard of them.

This was for sale outside a bicycle shop.  KM was interested - at least it would keep the rain out!  It did have a windscreen wiper - manually operated I suspect.

Window washing in Leicester

Leicester - and bells

We left for Leicester this morning - one hour from London on another high-speed train.

The highlight of today was not Richard III, but John Taylor Bell Foundry in nearby Loughborough. 

It has a green plaque, not sure how that compares to a blue plaque!

Except that the Government helps pay for the upkeep you can see below.

 And inside were new bells, old bells, about-to-be-made bells.  Some of these below were destined for Margaret River, WA. 

We will do a separate tab about the foundry.  We were with a very large group of local Probus Club people and it seemed that hardly any were ringers.  It was fascinating.  A 2+ hours on our feet.  We saw the moulds, a pour for a headstock, making the wheels, tuning the bells, and lastly the section where they make the ropes and sallies (the fluffy woollen bits on the ropes).  It is not a mass-production facility.

Wednesday

Over breakfast, we planned to go on a walking tour of Legal London, so went to Holborn tube.  But when we got outside, the sunny day had become cold and wet and windy.  So we went straight back to the tube and headed for the British Museum.

Such has been London weather.  Nothing like I have experienced, but exactly what you read about.  It has been very changeable, which makes dressing difficult.  So I just carry a backpack with a warm layer, a wind/rain proof layer, a hat, an umbrella,  sunglasses, and am adding a scarf.  Then you can choose whatever combination you need for the next 30 minutes.

Saw an exhibition about Shakespeare - quite interesting.  It is 400 years since he died.  Last year London was full of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.  So this is how history helps tourism.  After than we went to the gallery where they have old stuff - like a letter from Karl Marx to his friend,from Henry VIII to the Pope,  and the rough draft of the Beatles songs Yesterday and Help.  There were also old books - old bibles, Korans, Buddhist scripts and others.  Pics not allowed in these exhibitions.

KM has got my cold.  Mine was bad for a couple of days but cleared quickly, so lets hope his does the same.

Tomorrow is Leicester - so should have some pics then.

Parliament

Today we took ourselves to Westminster tube, hoping to see what we could of the Palace of Westminster and the Abbey.  I had given up trying to get tickets to go inside, including a guided tour - it was impossible online and the ticket office told me in person that there were queues.

So we just began walking around.  Eventually we got to the entrance for the public - and no queue.  So I went up to the nice ladies at the gate and asked if we could go inside.  "Yaas", she said.  Parliament was sitting in 20 minutes, and we could go to the public gallery.  Felt like we had hit the jackpot.  There is a rigmarole - security checks, filling out a ticket, putting ALL bags at the cloakroom, wearing a tag saying we had been screened.  But we made it. 

Saw discussion on labour and training.  Questions are short and to the point, and seeking information.  Answers were the same.  Quite different to the scuffle that our Parliament is at QT.  Neither  David Cameron nor Jeremy Corbyn were not present, but there were enough to make the show go on.  No pics allowed though.

We did see this tribute to Jo Cox in Westminister Hall, which is the oldest part of the joint and where they often have lying in state of VVIPs.

Some other pics inside...

We saw the "green" where the media gather and set up a studio with Westminster as a backdrop.  It was fenced off to the public.  Last year when BL and I were here, there was no media and no restrictions for us.

And looking the other direction...

Checked out the Methodist Central Hall nearby for lunch.  Plain and solid food - and no alcohol, not that that worried us.

Then we walked back to our unit.  At night, we have been buying prepared meals from the supermarket and heating them up in the microwave.

An interesting day - and Brexit still dominates.  Went looking for a Brexit T Shirt - but no luck.  Must be too serious even for TShirt writers.

Canterbury - and trains, food and Brexit

Today we tried UK's fast train service to Canterbury.  Comfortable and fast, well, faster and fewer stops than their other trains. 

The ticket checker, whose name was Steve, came through the train, checking tickets and gave each traveller directions on where to go after they left the train.  He knew all the stops apparently.  Some people enjoy their job and it was good to see.


The cathedral was historic and huge.  Helpful guides were stationed around the place - with graphic detail about the murder of Thomas Becket, what happened to his bones etc etc. 

Also info about the bells - lots of them. The central tower also has a big bell, but they only chime it  - the tower is stable at the moment....   Later there was a sign saying that you cannot learn to ring bells at the cathedral but need to go to several other churches for lessons.  The pressure of being a big-name-church.

 Aussies featured at Canterbury.   George Gipps was Governor of NSW (1838-1846), and returned to Canterbury where he died.

James Beaney contributed to a museum and got a plaque in the cathedral.  Apparently he was a philanthropist in Melbourne as well.

And the tomb of William Broughton who was the first and only Bishop of Australia.

We have been taking advantage of the huge range of prepared meals at the supermarket, which we can heat up in the microwave.  Even saw one lady at the checkout with a single glass of wine (well sealed of course).

Britain is still digesting Brexit.  This must be what a revolution feels like. Half the Labour front bench has resigned, even though they didn't initiate the referendum.  Boris says UK is part of Europe anyway, the Scots are getting restless, and even the Aus Republicans are making noises. And Kin Mun couldn't get his AU$ out quickly enough when he saw the exchange rate on Saturday.