Visiting Westminster Abbey

We went into London to visit Westminster Abbey this half-term.

We've gone a few times before but never made it in, either being too late in the day or given up when we've seen the queues.

We decided a wet half-term was the time to go, we were right.

We arrived at 11am, precisely by Big Ben's chime.  There was no queue at all.  We just walked up to the door.  Just the way I like it.

It is pricey - £18 for an adult and £8 for Cog.  It stings a bit when there is so much free stuff to do in London, and it's a church but hey-ho and it does include the audio guide which was very good.

Your local priest can apply for a free pass for a limited number of parishioners each year, if you are a church regular you could try down that route.  I think I might if I planned to go again.

You can't take photos inside the Abbey, there are many tombs to see.  I was rather pleased we had watched and read the White Queen with fervour.  I know that historical fiction isn't the best way to learn history, but at least we knew our Henrys and Elizabeths.  Margaret Beaufort is in there with Mary Queen of Scots.  Edward VI, Elizabeth I too.  But it was just as interesting to walk round and go 'Gosh there's Newton, blimey that's Faraday, there's Northumberland and Sussex'.  The Architecture is wonderful, obviously.  I was interested to see the hole in the wall caused by a bomb in the war and Cromwell's pre 'being dug up' grave.  The Coronation chair.  There is a lot of stuff to see and above all for me, the grave of the unknown soldier.   Such a moving story of his origin, I wrote about it before.

Many years ago I managed to wander in through a back door of the Abbey, I was looking around the Deans Court Yard and followed a camera crew's cable in through a door.  I had a lovely wander around on my own before finally deciding I really shouldn't be there and leaving.  But on my way out, the tomb stone of Captain James Cook caught my eye, I've never forgotten it and I found it again in the cloisters on this visit.

As always when Cog and I have these days out, there were costumed characters walking around.  I have no idea why!

The oldest door in Britain is in the Abbey, it pre-dates the Norman Conquest apparently.  I seemed to just keep on stumbling over bits and bobs like this.  I think doing a proper Guided tour would be very interesting.  I stood listening for a while to a guy talking to a lady about two 13th century doors put on 'after the robbery' and about the wooden chests the clergy robes were kept in.  I would have liked to have asked questions but it wasn't my tour!

The Chapter House was lovely and bright.  The relatively new glass made me smile.  It was very "woz ere".  The Doomsday book was here.  A copy of the Magna Carta was here.  If you want to actually see a copy of the Magna Carta, you can in Lincoln.  I recommend that for a day out too.

This window made me think of Elizabeth Woodville hiding in Sanctuary in the Abbey.  Actually it was taken in the Cellarium Cafe at the Abbey.  It was ok for a cup of tea and a slice a cake and the service was good but it was expensive and the sandwiches we had were dreadful.  There are so many good places to eat in London, I wouldn't waste my time here again.  There are good clean toilets there though.

Like so many historical buildings, the Abbey has been added to over the years but it's all been done in beautiful harmony.

If you are after a religious experience, I didn't find it at Westminster Abbey.  Cog said it didn't feel like a church.  I didn't even spot the Tabernacle.  I'm going to take her to Canterbury so she can feel the difference in a Cathedral that holds so many prayers within it's walls it bounces through you.

But for historical voyeurism Westminster Abbey is true gold and thoroughly worth a visit.

The official site for vistor information, opening times and prices is here.

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Trains for my viewing pleasure

This week's gallery is 'guilty pleasure'

I like trains, who doesn't?!

But I seem to have stacks and stack of uninteresting pictures like this, and I'm sad to say I like them and I like taking them.

They aren't special.

No, I didn't slip with camera in hand, I took it on purpose, whilst Cog tutted at me.  But look at it closely, it's a thingy in a gap, isn't it cool?!

Just me then!

I like train stations.  They are busy, architecturally messy.

Occasionally, they are places of true beauty.

Occasionally, I try to get arty.

Sometimes, I succeed.

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Thinking day and Kaleidoscope 2014

 It was an extra special World Thinking Day for us this year.  In our county we had Kaleidoscope.  400 rainbows, brownies, guides and senior section performing on stage.  I went with a handful of my Rangers to watch it.

Each Division had a decade of Guiding, mine was 1950s.  The Sputnik that caused me and my family so much consternation over Christmas made it's debut.  It looked jolly good!

 We all said our promise together, always a very special moment.  I was moved as our County Commissioner said "will all Guides stand to make their promise" and so many old ladies, not in uniform, Grandmas in the audience watching grandchildren I expect, stood up and retook their promise too. Special, totally special.

 The early decades were very interesting and well performed but I found the 70s, 80s and 90s moved me most.  I was whispering to the Ranger next to me 'I wore that uniform, I cleaned phone boxes too, I did that...."

I loved pac-man

 I felt myself groan as the Jeff Banks uniform came on.  I hated it then and time has not softened that loathing!  The culottes were very practical though!

And the future, where will Guiding be in 100 years time?

I'll have money on it having changed massively to remain relevant to that generation of girls.  Guiding is good at change.  Change to keep giving the girls opportunity, confidence and fun in a way they want to receive it.

Happy Thinking Day.

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T-shirt up-cycling

You might recall a long time ago I messed around with 'redesigning' old t-shirts and we also did it as an activity at Rangers.

Turning a t-shirt that looks like this.

Into something more like this.

and this.

I took the evening into a local Guide unit and ran it for them there.  They really enjoyed it.  It is really easy to do.  They just need an old jersey t-shirt and a pair of sharp scissors.

 With very little guidance they were off, making neckbands, headbands, cutting arms, lacing sides, all manner of their own ideas.

They enjoyed a fashion show at the end of it too.

A really good night.

If you are interested to learn more Salina has the best set of tutorials I have found on YouTube.

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Wet Runnings and Wind-devils

This weeks Gallery is weather.

Most of the south of the UK is under water right now. I am central Midlands, we rarely get extremes of anything.  It has been very wet here, the fields are so sodden that I gave up trying to run in them when even the duck boards laid by local dog walkers had  submerged.

So for now I am road running.  I hate it.  I got clipped by a car about 3 weeks ago.  Drivers just don't break early enough for runners and most don't give a wide enough berth.  I seem to be constantly diving into hedges to avoid being mowed down.

I am running into the oncoming traffic, I am wearing a fluorescent jacket and I'm as tight to the edge of the road as I can be without twisting my ankles on the broken edges (there are no footpaths).  I think I am doing my part.  But so many cars just love forcing me off the road and aiming for puddles to see if they can splash me. It's a joy.  But I refuse to be defeated, I find treadmill running soul destroyingly boring, at least the killer cars keep me on my toes.

But this gallery is about weather not running, so here is a picture I took on my phone whilst out walking a few years ago.  It is literally a wall of cloud.  It was a lovely sunny day and this weather front moved fast and menacingly towards me and within two shakes of a lambs tail I was a drowned rat.

It was quite amazing to watch, right up there with the funnel cloud I watched form one day in the clouds.  It started to come down from the clouds, I thought it was going to touch the ground and then just before it did,  as quickly as it formed it seem to disappear again.  I've seen a wind-devils go across the fields in the summer months.  They are such fun to watch, whipping up the dust or loose straw, I even followed one driving down a road once, quite amazing.  But this large wall of cloud topped them all for bringing home the sheer power of nature.

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I've got the painters in

I've got the painters in, not figuratively, literally!

Finally the hole in the ceiling...





...has become not a hole.








And I'm very happy with my new half glass doors, everywhere seems much brighter.






I did of course manage to scratch the wall trying to rehang the pictures and the mirrors, so the decorator had only been gone 5 minutes and I'd got the paint out again.


I rehung pictures, mirrors, paintings, put landing furniture back and rehung the curtains.  When HWMBO got home he said "I suppose we have to put all the stuff back tomorrow."

!!!

I don't get how men just do not see what is around them.

It was very useful having the painters at home every day for a while, they took all my parcels in for me.  This one was extra special.  Have you seen Ace Ventura UPS delivery?  This is clearly exactly how this 'fragile' parcel was delivered.  You'll be unsurprised to know it failed to make it in one piece.

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Opera and Prague

But unfortunately not together.

Whilst HWMBO tried to drink Prague dry, I took COG to 'The Grandest night of grand Opera.....ever'

It was part of the Comedy Festival but the more high brow part, obviously.

Anyway, it was such a relief to finally get to hear Figaro with subtitles. 'Figaro bra, Figaro car'.  I always suspected there wasn't much more to it than that.  And with my interest in maths and data, it was marvellous to get statistical breakdowns on the number of deaths by Tragic Opera and seeing which composer compared worst to Colonel Gadaffi.  The conductor Rainer Hersch was very entertaining.

We are becoming quite regulars at the Symphony these days.  I'm starting to almost enjoy it.  But hearing ' Puff the Magic Dragon' and 'I should be so lucky' sung with Pachelbel Canon for accompaniment makes 6 chord pop songs all the more entertaining. Although Verdi karaoke is fairly good fun apart from the annoying girl sat behind me who insisted on doing it 'properly' - pfffffft, students!




Stayed tuned for the next exciting edition when I mention the ballet I went too where the prima donnas had not heard of the words 'self denial' and considerable scaffolding was required.....and the tragedy was it was not a comedy and I ate more tissues than any of the dancers trying not to laugh.....


I know.....I'll get my coat!

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Reasons to Believe I can carry on Guiding

Linked into the Gallery's 'ReasonsToBelieve' theme this week.  I'm going to lift myself up a bit with reasons to believe I can carry on Guiding:

Observing a moment of total elation for the young leaders gave me a double serving of joy, if also a little ringing in the ears from their squeals.

Walking from your tent to the campfire of an evening, wrapped in a camp blanket, ready to sing, to connect, to share.

Because the Guides made 100, the Brownies made 100 but the Senior Section don't make it until 2016. Perhaps we should try to have one Senior Section unit open in my division for their 100th.

Maybe, it's just a little bit of everything gone and there is a possibility that some of it will happen again:

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Close to the end of a Guiding Journey?

Those of you that know me well (or read between the lines) know I've been struggling recently.  So much crapola happening and the mountain of it just seems to grow.

Guiding used to be my 'go to' place.  The place with friends, the place for fun, the place where crapola went on hold and it felt like what I did helped and mattered.

I'm now a Ranger leader.  I didn't have the same relationship the other Ranger leader as I had with the Brownie leaders.  Since being at Rangers I have had to reduce my commitment to brownies and with that the tie to my friends there has weakened.  The other Ranger leader had little respect for me, I got the impression mostly she didn't want me there but needed a second pair of hands, so she was stuck with a rock and a hard place.  She has now gone on a maternity break.  Of course she won't know whether that is going to be a short or long one, until she knows which way motherhood takes her.

So I find myself a lone Ranger leader.  Rangers are teenagers.  They take a special sort of leader to 'guide' them though this stage of Guiding.  I am not that leader.  Ranger leader training is sparse in Guiding.  To be quite honest I think I could do with getting on some Scout training, but that isn't an option as far as I can see. 

I have a unit to run, I have all the responsibility but none of the authority (in terms of bank accounts etc).  That makes it harder but to be quite honest I don't want the authority anyway.  I have been saddled with it.  I went along to help a leader that was needing help and I've been left with a unit I don't want to run.  I'm trying harder to stick to the program, to help the girls achieve awards, run a residential etc but it's not fun and I have no peer friendships there.

A number of the Rangers are critical of what I have tried to do (I will do another post about what I am doing wrong, but for now I don't want to talk detail and fixes, I just need to release) and as young adults of their age tend to be, very vocal.  There is a period of life when we 'know it all' - you'll remember that time, it brings amazing confidence and is right for striding out into the world, but it leaves me drifting in the wake of the waves it creates.  I tend to sit down and cry when I return from meetings.  This isn't the Guiding I signed up for. 

I voiced this frustration in an online Guiding forum which was spotted by a couple of my Rangers and they were justifiably upset and put out.  I wanted to scream "do you see how hard this is, do you hear how you criticise me, do you know how many hours I spend giving to you all?" but instead I did the thing a leader should do:  I apologised whole heartedly for letting them down, for causing offence, for not being a good leader and promising to try harder.  That was the right thing to do.  But the true fact of the matter is I feel like I'm giving for no reward.  It's constant hard work and I am totally drained.

If I didn't have a Residential planned for the summer I would have just shut the door on the unit this week and not gone back.  I guess I will strive on.  Woggle making next meeting, what's not to like! 

I'm off to Switzerland with a group of leaders in May, I feel a bit of a fraud, I'm not a happy leader.  Can unhappy leaders go to Switzerland and play at Guiding, is that allowed?  Maybe it will give me a boost.

Across the years I have seen some really close friends just turn away from Guiding and never really understand how they could just let go.  This week I got it.

I wonder how I am going to unget it.

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did we lose god from guiding?

Sometime ago I wrote that I thought it was about time to review the Guiding Promise, I thought society as a whole had moved on and the promise that included 'to love my God' was excluding too many people to make it relevant to the all inclusive Guiding movement of today.

As luck would have it, the powers that be felt the same way and there was a consultation where all members were asked for their opinion.

The result was a new promise.  We no longer promise 'to love my God', we promise 'To be true to myself and develop my beliefs'.

This has caused great consternation in some and in a few marked cases has caused units to threaten to leave the movement completely.  But so far there is no compromise.  The promise is the promise and it is here to stay.

Most importantly we must all say one promise. Girlguiding believes in the value of learning by doing. This is put into practise through a Method with five interlinking elements, known as the Five Essentials of guiding, the last of these is 'sharing a commitment to a common standard'.  The main part of that is the promise and the laws.

I can still see my God in the promise, but taken at face value it has caused some, including Church leaders, to question whether the change is a step too far.

I read this recently.  It is a most succinct description of exactly how I feel.  Please go and read the whole piece, but I will quote some of what this vicar wrote for you here.

"... the improvement that struck me is that it replaces a static sense of duty with a commitment to development. It is now much more akin to the promises made at baptism or confirmation.

'To do my duty to God' is a promise that embodies a very static, hierarchical view of God and our relationship with him/her. The implication is that this 'duty' is a given, and our only valid option is to obey and do what we are told. Whereas the new promise embraces an understanding of faith and life as something that is, ideally, always growing. I'm still not entirely sold on 'being true to myself', but the more I think about it, the more I love the promise to 'develop my beliefs'.
In fact, this is a far more significant and far more religiously profound promise to make. It commits the new Guide to taking faith seriously, whatever their current beliefs. It commits her to working for her faith development, to accepting, and desiring, that her beliefs will change and grow.
In the church, we spend huge amounts of time and energy trying to achieve culture change from maintenance to mission, from a consumer view of church to a participant view, from a static receptive idea of being a member to a dynamic proactive one."

As a movement we do so much to develop girls in the 'right' direction, we work hard.  In all of our aims, vision statements, methods, programs etc I see a solid underlying religious ethos.  Whether that is Christianity or any other. We have a core of  'be nice to your fellow human, do nice stuff, learn how to make a difference and be part of that difference'.  It seems we are taking a bit of flack right now for a few words but if the actual difference we make as a movement was viewed, it would look like a huge iceberg with a few words poking out of the water with a world of good underneath.

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An empty bowl to a cat

This week's gallery is food.

My cats believe they are hard done to, starved, poor wee things. 


To my cats this is an empty bowl, apparently.  The yowling for more food starts at this level of tank.

Those of you that have followed my little cat's epic adventures around my vicinity know that they mainly involve me getting calls from random people asking if I know my cat is lost and starving hungry (usually about an hour after I last fed her) or on Facebook status' of local people saying that she is at karate, hula, playgroup, church, guides, theatre group etc disrupting proceedings.  She is a socialite extreme and a player.

When I last collected her from a house at the other end of the village she had been sat at their door crying like she hadn't been fed in a week (the reality being it was about 4 hours) and they were hand feeding the little dear cat treats called dreamies.

In an attempt to stop her straying I bought dreamies.  With much yowling, running up and down and refusals to eat, I have now been trained to place the treats exactly where she insists is the only place to eat them from and in greater volumes they they should be.

 

The unsuitable biscuits are now left for the fat cat in my life, but I've also noticed little cat now tries to bury the bowls into the tiled floor once she has eaten her fill of wet food.  The noise from this drives me nuts.

Luckily my fat cat is usually happy to hoover everything right up until the bowls are 'empty' and so we return to the first picture of what an empty bowl looks like to my cats.

!

Big cat, little cat, welcome to cat cafe!

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