hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be don...
.....wait a minute. What kind of church is this? They're serving coffee and scones...
This whole town is very confusing.
Look at the goofy architecture...
People leave their bicycles parked everywhere...
They go to dark places like this...
to drink dark beer like this...
and eat strange food like this...
But, most confusing of all are the silly boats scattered everywhere, with no sails and no oars again, just like at that other place I blogged about last week. Everywhere I go in this strange land, there are these silly boats...
Could this be that place almost like heaven, that Tillerman was babbling on about?
If it is, why is everyone bundled up in wool hats and coats and blankets? Maybe he just means this is the place that frostbiting must have been invented.
Now how coincidental is that, that they all brought blankets with exactly the same pattern? I was gonna guess Venice, but their water is even more radioactive than this appears to be.
ReplyDeleteIt does look like heaven. You could almost imagine someone in that pub having a divine revelation and babbling that he had discovered the secret of life.
ReplyDeleteHave you met up with Anna yet?
I think the people who pass judgement on whether or not revelations are divine weren't too pleased to hear about that particular revelation.
DeleteSome guy named Darwin, who also spent time in this town, ran into the same flack over his revelations.
Awesome vaulted ceiling and pipe organ. I almost expected to see Inspector Morse in The Eagle tossing back a pint....
ReplyDeleteI think Morse hung out at the other place, but I've been wrong before.
DeleteI think it's possible to go from one place to the other, but you have to spend some time in Birmingham first to atone for your sins.
You are correct, of course. It was "The Turf Tavern" that was his favorite. Grasping at pubs I suppose, as I was reminded of him by your wonderful post. Cheers.
DeleteAre those the singing spires of Birmingham - famous according to the Birmingham Tourist authority for having more miles of canal than Venice.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed heaven, or maybe a bit like the garden of eden: after 3 years there is the fall called Finals after which they chuck you out.
ReplyDeleteI remember listening to the Brahms Requiem in that place with the nice ceiling: highly memorable
Ah, mucking about on those boats was such fun!
I'd enjoy that trip. Love seeing the pix.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous pictures. That vaulted ceiling is stunning. Definitely looks a little cold to be heaven but looks like fun all the same!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, all.
ReplyDeleteThe place with the vaulted ceiling has remarkable acoustics. During our visit, a young choir was practicing and the sound those voices produced filled the vast space, as if by magic. Those who had the vaulted space built and local math students would have other explanations for why the sound so filled one's soul, but I like the idea of 'magic' best.
There is so much magic about that place.
ReplyDeleteThe architecture and the choirs are certainly two things that captivate the eye and ear at first, but when you live there for the three most formative years of your life you realize that there is so much hiding below the vision and earshot of the casual observer that will fill your soul and change the way you see the world. I feel so privileged that I had the chance to experience it the way I did.
I think I'll go and have a good cry now.
Your university was founded 700 years before mine. I'm the one go have a good cry.
Deletehow about the silly ducks that follow the silly boats? do the natives eat them?
ReplyDeleteI have seen what must be relatives of the silly ducks turning up on local menus, but these ducks are not so silly at all. They have trained the people in the silly boats to bring food to them. So, even the ducks here are pretty smart.
DeleteWhat about the swans? Can you eat the swans?
ReplyDeleteIndeed, O docker, it's quite a cultural comparison with regard to "boating"...
ReplyDeleteRiver Cam
River Sacramento
It must be the warmer temperatures in CA. On the other hand, who knows what goes on under those plaid blankets?
What happens under the plaid blankets stays under the plaid blankets.
DeleteBob's your uncle.
DeleteHe is. And he's my brother-in-law too.
Delete