Rain! Wet clingy rain. The sort that gets inside whatever you are wearing and makes you feel miserable. But I decided to go none-the-less, having risen at 5.45am in the hope that the rain would ease come daylight.
Leaving home on this Sunday morning at 7.45am (for the Flower Market opens here on Sundays only) to Columbia Road Flower Market - or Columbia Flower Market as the sign states.
The 396 to Ilford Station, TFL to Liverpool Street, the 26 bus and then a short walk to the street filled with flower and plant stalls. The aroma hits you when you are many yards away.
And if I felt a bit down in the mouth and damp, my spirits were soon lifted high. How could it be otherwise?
The colours are just magnificent - especially the tulips. The small artisan shops tend to be expensive so I kept away this time. Some amusing signs caught my eye - you may spot them.
The bulb and corm stall did not have the summer flowering bulbs I wanted - they were selling off the spring bulbs left over. But the herb stall I have frequented in the past had some Thyme that will replace those lost in the winter frosts and snow.
Whilst the space between the stalls was crowded, there were not as many people about as usual. I have never seen the pub so deserted at the entrance to the market!
Back on the 26 bus to St. Paul's Cathedral to dry out in the warm Crypt with a cup of coffee and a Mars Bar.
Then to the 11.30am Sung Eucharist. The Cathedral Choir being on Easter holiday, the service was sung by the all ladies choir Aurora Nova with the setting appropriately enough by Cecilia McDowall and the sermon by The Revd Rosemary Morton, Minor Canon and Succentor. The Processional Hymn - 'Come, ye faithful, raise the anthem, Cleave the skies with shouts of praise'- blew away the cobwebs and the damp as the sound rose magnificently into the mighty Dome high above.
Doubting Thomas and faith were the theme of the sermon, but in that massive place where I find such peace, faith seems close at hand and not so hard to comprehend. And whilst some Stewards in their Morning Dress smile a greeting, others seem far too dour (although two, who were not on duty today, not only smile, but go out of their way to shake my hand and make me welcome - as does the Dean but the two Canons and the Chaplain who do so were on holiday).
Home by train - for this was no day to dawdle nor onto enjoy a bus ride in the front seat on the top of a double decker. Home, a warm shower and hot food - and Socks was pleased to see me.
