Saturday 30th October 2021

Of all the churches and cathedrals in London, the one I wanted to visit and photograph was Westminster Abbey. But, the Abbey didn't allow photography didn't go. And then a few weeks back, my friend, Aidan, started to post shots from inside, and as it turns out, photography, in most areas of the Abbey, is now allowed. So it was a case of when we would visit, not "if", and once we had a free weekend, I began to plan and book.

£25 to go in, each. £10 each for the new museum. And £15 each for a hidden highlights tour. It wasn't cheap, but then if you're going to do it, do it well!

All chores were done Friday, including shopping, so we were free to catch the quarter to eaight train from Dover. On the way we calledinto the garage to pick up some stuff to eat on the train, so we were set.

Saturday was also the last day of British Summer Time (BST), as the clocks would go back early on Sunday morning, then five long winter months would begin.

So, better make most of the daylight.

We were early for the train, so we ate breakfast on the platform, then once the train pulled in, I picked my favourite seats and we settled down for the hour run into London. THe one thing I hadn't planned well was the weather, and some rain was expected during the morning.

The train wasn't busy, and most people wore masks, though enough didn't to make one wonder if the message about COVID really hadn't got through. But then with Johnson as PM, we shouldn't be surprised.

We get off at Statford, and the rain was falling heavily even before we left the Essex marshes behind and entered the long tunnel. But at Stratford, day had become night and the rain fell in what is called stair-rods. I hoped that if we walked slowly through the shopping centre it might have eased by the time we needed to cross over the bridge to the regional station, but the rain was falling just as hard.

And there was no way to avoid it, so we just pulled our collars up and walked as quickly as possible.

Which is why, by the time we arrived at the other side, we were wet little hobbitses.

A quick walk to the Jubilee Line platforms, catching the next train out, we took seats and sat there, gently steaming.

Twenty minutes later, we arrived in Westminster, no dryer, really, taking the four flights of escalators to the surface, where outside it had, atleast, stopped raining for now.

Demonstrations are now outlawed in Parliament Square, so it was quiet, once you got to the other side of the road, its a five minute walk past the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament), and round to the entrance of the Abbey.

Amazingly, there was no queue, and once inside the doorway I show my e tickets, they were scanned and we were allowed in. There was a one way system round the Abbey, so I began the first circuit with the 50mm lens, thinking I would go round again with the wide angle, and a third time with the big lens to snap detail.

That was the plan.

Westminster Abbey is where the Kings and Queens of England and Britain have been crowned. Also, where until Henry V11 thought otherwise, they were buried too, so the chancel is jammed with tombs of many famous and infamous figures from history, from Edward the Confessor to William and Mary, most tombs are grand, some less so. As well as Kings and Queens, minor royals and members of the nobility also were either buried here, or had monument erected. As have military figures, and famousnames from the arts.

It really is quite remarkable.

That and the Abbey itself, in parts dating from just before the Norman COnquest, to a rebuilding just after to the 13th Century when Henry III pulled the old Abbey down and started to rebuild it, until he ran out of money.

But it was completed, and since then had filled up with monuments, so many, I lost count and gave up trying to record them all. Instead, marvelling at their range and beauty.

I walked down the nave, through the arch into the Quire, and it was as breathtaking as expected, then round the Chancel looking and photographing the tombs of the Kings and Queens, round Henry VII's chapel.

And then repeating it with the wide angle lens, taking shots of the various chapels and tombs, all the while keeping an eye on the time as we were to go to visit the new gallery musuem at 11, and then a guided tour of some normally off limit places at half past.

Neither of these allowed photography, which is a great shame as the views from the gallery were stunning down the length of the Nave and then the ancinent chain library and the sanctuary of Henry VII's chapel where we could reach out and touch the shrine of St Edward the Confessor.

The museum had dozens of funeral effigies of the Kings and Queens, some made I'm sure to look better than they did in real life, but others had a degree of realism about them. The one of Queen Mary seemed pregnant, while the one for Queen Elizabeth Ist had a tight corset, so she would have appeared in death as she had as a young woman.

There were carvings, ceremonial cloaks, replicas of the Crown Jewels, and so much more, but we had run out of time, as we had to get to the other side of the church for the hidden secrets tour.

Us and three other couples joined our guide as he showed us the latest escavations revealing the area where monks used to prepare for services. This is hidden behind screens now, and will soon become the site of a new visitor's centre. The trenches were filled with uncvered skeletons and bones, all human of course, and these will all either be rebuuried here or some other Christian place.

Next we went to the Dean's quarters where we saw where he prepared for services, and were allowed into, but not allowed to photograph the Jerico Room, before being allowed outside for a while, then walking around the cloisters, back into the chancel and into Henry's chapel to see the tombs and shrine. Envious looks rained down on us as we climbed the wooden steps into the usually closed area, and then only the people in the gallery above could see us.

It was, by then, half one, and we were footsore and thirsty, so I decided to clal the visit short, and instead we would make our way back to St Pancras for lunch at Yo Sushi before getting a train back to Dover.

We walked across Parliament Square to the underground station, caught a busy train to Green Park, then on the Victoria to St Pancras, through the station to the restaurant, where we got a booth next to the converybelt, which still went round and round, but no food went on due to COVID, so instead you scnned a QR code and ordered via the internet, paid the same way, and in ten minutes your food and drink arrived.

Like magic.

We ate well, so well we ordered some Japanese spiced fried and aother round of Taiwanese chicken.

Yummy.

Time then to go up the platforms above for the train back home, arriving just in time to buy a coffee and be on the platform when the train pulled in.

We get seats with a table and wait for the train to fill up before departure, but is really only half full. The family in the seats opposite have a right old time keeping up with their hyperactive daughter, who runs from one end of the train to the other, all the way to Folkestone. They'll be thankful for the welded rail for an almost totally smooth trip so there was no falling.

Back in Dover at quarter to five, home ten minutes later. We feed the cats, make a brew, have the final slice from the non-Christmas frut cake I made two weeks ago, and then settle down to watch the Spurs v Man Utd game, which Utd romped home winning.

I review my shtos of the day, and reflect on a job well done.

That'll do, pig.