Not the day I had hoped for!

Today did not work out in the way I had hoped! The first part was fine but . . .

Leaving home around two this afternoon noon, I took the TfL train from Ilford to Liverpool Street as the Central Line was on strike - then the 26 bus to St. Paul's. Arriving at around 3pm, I queued in the rain! Evensong was being broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 from 3.30pm. The congregation was smaller than usual on a weekday and most of us were taken into the choir stalls. As ever the music was inspiring and the peace I find there is something I cannot explain - for the building is vast and allows me to get lost alone.

The rain had stopped when the service was over so I caught the number 15 bus to the Tower of London. Here I had hoped to see the display of light, having enjoyed the poppies some four years ago that filled the moat. But the crowds . . .

Leaving the bus, I found that there were crowd barriers along the pavements with the crossing points manned by security - even so there were idiots who ran across while the pedestrian lights were at red! On the pavement we had to keep walking until the area in front of the shops - where there were the grid lines that you see at airports to marshal the crowds. I joined the queue but after 20 minutes I was still in the same grid - and there were about seven more to go! I decided that if I continued I might be caught in a crowd with no way of escape and that could be dangerous at my age!

I guess the poppies were on display all day whereas the lights are from dusk till late evening. There was no way I could face the long standing and the crush. I understand that tickets were on sale prior to the event which gave access to the moat itself. I wish I had known this. The only consolation was that I could hear the music!

From Tower Gateway I travelled on the Docklands Light Railway to Stratford - something I have not done before in the dark. This was so exciting - especially as from Tower Gateway to Poplar I had seat at the front and could imagine I was the driver. The lights of Docklands are stunning at night. So if I did not see the lights at the Tower I enjoyed a light display on the DLR! Home to a bowl of hot nourishing soup - green pea and mint from Aldi and my favourite with toast.

Sorry - no photographs!

Symbolic

A ceremony was held at St Peter's Aldborough Hatch on Tuesday 6th November to mark the 100th anniversary of the death on 6th November 1918 of Lt Harry Jassby, a Jewish Canadian pilot, who is buried in St. Peter’s churchyard.

Led by Revd Kate Lovesey, the ceremony was attended by twenty local residents and councillors. David Martin of Fairlop Heritage Group, who organised the ceremony, read greetings from Harry Jassby’s niece in Montreal.

On the gravestone Lt Jassby is said to be 22-years-old when the died – but he lied about his age to enlist and was, in fact, 20 – the number of residents who attended the ceremony on Tuesday. I found this somewhat symbolic.

Red berries

At St. Peter's yesterday where the holly is in full berry. Some say this heralds a hard winter. Others say that it means we had a warm spring. I just like the colours! The trees along the path are a picture. I am so glad we removed the old plane trees and replaced with these flowering cherry trees whose leaves are a picture at anytime of year.

Just sky!

In a world with so many wonderful things to catch the eye, it is easy to overlook one of the most beautiful sights - free every day of the year. The sky above! And on an autumn day when the sun burst out from behind the scudding clouds over Fairlop Waters Country Park, the sky painted the kind of picture few artists are able to emulate. 

Nuff said!

Yesterday I asked my daughter if she had remembered to put the clocks back. No, she said, as we do not have any clocks. The mobiles and computers all do it automatically.

I have six clocks, a mobile and an iMac.

Nuff said!

A foot-tapping triumph!

Last evening we had something new for St. Peter’s - a Jazz Evening with Keith Nichols. A pianist of extraordinary talent who has played with all the greats and gave us an evening of entertainment the like of which we have not seen in Aldborough Hatch for many a year - if ever! If you missed it, you would have enjoyed a great evening. Well done St. Peter's Social and Fund-raising Sub-Committee - a foot-tapping triumph.

A bit of nostalgia

Today I had a bit of nostalgia. Alighting at the Bank Station, I walked up Cornhill - as I did every weekday and some Saturday mornings from 1956 to 1968 when working at the Cornhill Insurance Company. The words above the Royal Exchange stood out every day - "The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof". The Lloyds Bank where I started banking is no more - now it houses a shop selling soaps. And the Cornhill Insurance sign is still above the carved door - but the offices are occupied by nondescript companies and the Insurance has disappeared. I called into the church of St. Peter to admire the stained glass - something I did not do when I worked nearby! On to Leadenhall Market, which no longer seems to sell meat and vegetables but caters for the bankers with loads of money to spend on eating.

I had booked at the Sky Garden and was whisked up 35 floors in a lift that did not seem to move at all. The view was stupendous - and all for free! The photographs speak for themselves. Home on the Number 15 bus and the Docklands Light Railway - where I sat in the front from Tower Gateway and pretended I was driving. Magic!