Out and about

Tuesday May 2:

Difficult decisions over the May Day Weekend. Daughter was staying with us and we normally try to find something to do to entertain her before she goes back home - leaving us out of food and out of pocket. Despite it being a holiday, though, there was surprisingly little on offer. An amateur production of Return to the Forbidden Planet at the Embassy in Skeggie? Nah... I love that show, seen it many times... 'Shakespeare's forgotten rock and roll masterpiece' - like Rocky Horror but with better songs and a snappier and more literary dialogue... couldn't bear to see it being mangled by wannabees. Or the Tetford and Salmonby Scarecrow Festival (in aid of St. Mary's Church and the Community)? Don't think so somehow... doesn't quite get the nerves tingling and the juices running does it? Next year, maybe.

So just a trip to Horncastle for lunch. Mme. bought a waterproof hat from a market stall. Some people suit hats. Some don't. Mme.'s makes her look as if she's got her head stuck in a bucket.

As we crested The Wolds on the way, Lincoln Cathedral's towers could be seen on the horizon, about 30 miles or so in front of us to the West. And another 30 miles away on our left looking South, Boston Stump - the towering.. err.. tower of St. Botolph's, Boston, standing out over the flatness of the Fens. Each of them the biggest man-made features in the landscape... and both about 700 years old. What landmarks they must have been for our ancestors when this countryside was almost trackless. What monuments they are to the prosperity and concentration of wealth of those times.

I went to a service in Boston one Sunday a few months ago. There were about a dozen of us in the cavernous parish church - I hardly ever go myself but it's kind of disappointing that hardly anyone else does either. The clergyman was from Chattanooga, Georgia. Gawd knows what he makes of it... although he did have a stab at converting me to a regular attender. It is said that there are 365 steps to the top of the tower, 12 pillars supporting the roof - equal to the months of the year. There are 7 doors for the days of the week and 52 windows. There are also 24 steps leading to the library above the south porch, whilst on either side of the chancel there are 60 steps by which the roof can be reached; these steps indicating the hours, the minutes and the seconds by which our days are numbered. Scary or what?