Obviously, one of the signs of getting older is that people stand up to give you a seat on the tube, but I am still very surprised when a young woman offers me her seat. Just possibly wearing the collar may have something to do with it as well, but that doesn't seem very likely in contemporary London.
More alarming though, is to discover that your contemporaries are now occupying great offices in the land which are positions of eminence and seniority. This is very concerning when you have always believed, as I have done, that these are positions for grown-ups, who are a distinct species, quite different from you. So, as you can imagine, it was a bit disconcerting to discover that Bishop Stephen Cottrell (the current Bishop of Chelmsford) has been chosen to be the next Archbishop of York, because I knew Stephen very well when we trained together at St Stephen's House. He is two or three years older than me, and was in his final year when I started at Staggers, and he was my group leader. Groups were a feature of institutions in the 1980s; we were all organised into groups across the years, with a tutor vaguely supervising us, and we were expected to socialise and support each other. Mostly, though, it was a way of ensuring that certain domestic tasks got carried out (like serving dinner). You got to know your group pretty well. Your group leader could make your life less than pleasant. Stephen was my bishop for a while in Reading, having been appointed to the post instead of the unfortunate Fr Jeffrey John, when the irony was that their views and theological approach were virtually the same, but Stephen was judged acceptable because he is married with children, while Jeffrey was not because he is a gay man in a (celibate) relationship. From Reading Stephen was advanced to the diocese of Chelmsford, which is his (and my) home diocese, for he grew up in Southend, or rather Anglo-Catholic Leigh-on-Sea (which is posher than Southend). I am slightly surprised that Stephen should be put in charge of the Northern Province, as he has spent almost the whole of his working life in the south-east of England, and has always been rather the professional Londoner, speaking a sort of Estuary English that comes very naturally to him. To be fair, he was diocesan missioner in Wakefield for a while (a diocese which no longer exists), but that's his only contact with the north. I have no doubt that he has been an effective Bishop of Chelmsford, and clearly the Archbishop of Canterbury sees him as a suitable collaborator for York, but you would have expected someone with more experience of the north (especially after Archbishop Sentamu, who is also pretty un-northern). It is amusingly ironic that a life-long Socialist like Stephen should be sent to York at exactly the time that vast swathes of the north turn Tory.
For me, the Archbishop of York should be someone older than me, whom I can respect. Still more does this apply to the Governor of the Bank of England, and I exclaimed with surprise on the tube the other day when I realised from the report in the standard that the Andrew Bailey who has been appointed the next Governor was the same Andrew Bailey whom I knew at university. I remember he was jolly bright, and he was certainly the sort of person who would have gone to work there, but it still came as a jolting surprise, mainly in realising how ancient I must have become. I remember bumping into Andrew in Florence in the summer of 1981, when we were both doing the cultural thing, thanks to cheap student rail fares, but we weren't ever particularly close. We both read History; he was at Queen's, I was at Emma, and he was in the Labour Club while I was in CUCA, but we moved in similar political circles. As I recall, we had common enemies, a coterie of "moderates" in both organisations who hung around together and shared backgrounds of similar wealth and privilege (among them, amusingly, Sir Bernard Jenkin, who is now my brother's MP). We provincial grammar school products gravitated together.
Friday, 27 December 2019
Thursday, 12 December 2019
GUNS AND HOUSES
It was horrible to learn of a shooting on Walterton Road last week, on the edge of the parish. A young man remains in hospital, critically injured, after being shot in the neck by someone passing, apparently on a moped at 8.30 in the evening. Details remain sketchy, and contradictory, as some people thought a car was involved, and either two shots, or seven were mentioned. A member of the congregation who lives on the street had heard and seen nothing unusual. The previous evening we had been told by the local police that our silly youths on the Estate have decided that they want to have their own gang, instead of being disputed territory between the Harrow Road Boys, the Lisson Green Men, and whatever they are called on the Mozart Estate (the virtuosi perhaps?) and so they have taken to taunting other postcode dwellers on social media. The result of these taunts apparently was that ten of the Lisson Green "Men" turned up at the youth club on the Amberley Estate with machetes. We really do not need this. Of course we can reassure people that you are unlikely to have any problem if you are not a young black male, but young black men are actually human beings too, and part of the community.
Bizarrely the line that the Evening Standard chose to take on the shooting was that this was a nice street in prosperous Maida Vale, where "Regency townhouses sell for £3 million". This is laughably misleading. First they need a history lesson; nothing on Walterton Road dates back to the Regency (1811-1820). This area was developed after 1870. And when I looked on Zoopla, the average price of a house was £1.3 million, but that was only an estimate because so few houses are actually sold; almost all the houses are divided into flats, and almost all the property is social housing. Most of the property belongs to our local housing association, WECH (Walterton & Elgin Community Homes, the clue is in the acronym) which is a remarkable thing, a well-run housing association, run for the benefit of the residents. Many of those in Walterton Road are Bangladeshi families, as the older Caribbean families are gradually moving out, but the street is pretty diverse; it was one of the great centres of squatting back in the 1970s, and several of The Clash lived there before they achieved success.
WECH was set up in the wake of the "Homes for Votes" scandal, the notorious episode of gerrymandering by Dame Shirley (later Lady) Porter, when as Leader of Westminster City Council in the 1980s, she moved council tenants out of marginal wards and sold off those properties. Many of those moved out were transferred into the Harrow Road and Westbourne Wards, which were regarded as hopeless, and some homeless people were even housed in two semi-derelict blocks of flats on Elgin Avenue which were full of crumbling asbestos (a fact well-known to council officers). The Thatcher government had created mechanisms to encourage housing associations, and tenant buyouts, but Lady Porter was much discomfited when the council tenants in Elgin Avenue and Walterton Road (and streets round about) organised themselves to acquire the property. So WECH was born, and it has remained tenant-controlled and has worked hard to improve housing conditions (the asbestos-riddled flats were demolished). Lady Porter was found to have acted illegally and ordered to pay a surcharge of over £42 million, but the council later accepted a settlement of £12 million, on the basis that legal action would not be cost-effective. She fled to Israel.
In my experience most housing associations are pretty unresponsive to their tenants' problems, and are in fact more difficult to put pressure on than council housing departments (which at least respond to complaints from councillors) as they are not actually accountable to anyone. They pose as community-focussed organisations, but are in fact raising money by mortgaging their properties and playing the US property market. Anyone involved with community issues in this part of London will tell you horror stories about Genesis and Notting Hill, which have now merged (into an organisation whose two computer systems are incompatible). but they seem to be typical. Sadly, Genesis began life as the Paddington Churches' Housing Association, but the churches gradually lost interest, and the management manipulated the rules to take control from them, with the result that an organisation that had been set up on Christian principles (in the wake of Rachman) turned into an entirely secular and indeed entirely godless company, which asset-stripped former Church property. Both St Peter's and Emmanuel churches are built into blocks of Genesis flats, which gives us endless troubles, as witness the spectacular damp here in St Peter's House, which Notting Hill/Genesis are doing nothing about, as our cupboards fill with mould, and the paint drops off the corridor walls. I'm just glad I don't have to live there, as some of my predecessors did.
Bizarrely the line that the Evening Standard chose to take on the shooting was that this was a nice street in prosperous Maida Vale, where "Regency townhouses sell for £3 million". This is laughably misleading. First they need a history lesson; nothing on Walterton Road dates back to the Regency (1811-1820). This area was developed after 1870. And when I looked on Zoopla, the average price of a house was £1.3 million, but that was only an estimate because so few houses are actually sold; almost all the houses are divided into flats, and almost all the property is social housing. Most of the property belongs to our local housing association, WECH (Walterton & Elgin Community Homes, the clue is in the acronym) which is a remarkable thing, a well-run housing association, run for the benefit of the residents. Many of those in Walterton Road are Bangladeshi families, as the older Caribbean families are gradually moving out, but the street is pretty diverse; it was one of the great centres of squatting back in the 1970s, and several of The Clash lived there before they achieved success.
WECH was set up in the wake of the "Homes for Votes" scandal, the notorious episode of gerrymandering by Dame Shirley (later Lady) Porter, when as Leader of Westminster City Council in the 1980s, she moved council tenants out of marginal wards and sold off those properties. Many of those moved out were transferred into the Harrow Road and Westbourne Wards, which were regarded as hopeless, and some homeless people were even housed in two semi-derelict blocks of flats on Elgin Avenue which were full of crumbling asbestos (a fact well-known to council officers). The Thatcher government had created mechanisms to encourage housing associations, and tenant buyouts, but Lady Porter was much discomfited when the council tenants in Elgin Avenue and Walterton Road (and streets round about) organised themselves to acquire the property. So WECH was born, and it has remained tenant-controlled and has worked hard to improve housing conditions (the asbestos-riddled flats were demolished). Lady Porter was found to have acted illegally and ordered to pay a surcharge of over £42 million, but the council later accepted a settlement of £12 million, on the basis that legal action would not be cost-effective. She fled to Israel.
In my experience most housing associations are pretty unresponsive to their tenants' problems, and are in fact more difficult to put pressure on than council housing departments (which at least respond to complaints from councillors) as they are not actually accountable to anyone. They pose as community-focussed organisations, but are in fact raising money by mortgaging their properties and playing the US property market. Anyone involved with community issues in this part of London will tell you horror stories about Genesis and Notting Hill, which have now merged (into an organisation whose two computer systems are incompatible). but they seem to be typical. Sadly, Genesis began life as the Paddington Churches' Housing Association, but the churches gradually lost interest, and the management manipulated the rules to take control from them, with the result that an organisation that had been set up on Christian principles (in the wake of Rachman) turned into an entirely secular and indeed entirely godless company, which asset-stripped former Church property. Both St Peter's and Emmanuel churches are built into blocks of Genesis flats, which gives us endless troubles, as witness the spectacular damp here in St Peter's House, which Notting Hill/Genesis are doing nothing about, as our cupboards fill with mould, and the paint drops off the corridor walls. I'm just glad I don't have to live there, as some of my predecessors did.
Friday, 15 November 2019
THE DAYS GO QUICKLY
It's been a heavy fortnight. We hosted the AGM of the Ecclesiastical Architects' and Surveyors' Association, which happens alongside a joint awards ceremony with the National Churches Trust, and I had to speak to them, with Biba Dow, our architect, about the Project. We were also shortlisted for the Presidents' Award, which we didn't get. The winner was St Augustine's Priory Church, in Fulham Palace Road, which was a worthy winner. The field was a lot stronger than last year, though I do think it is hard to judge new work inside old buildings against whole new buildings. Last year I thought the runner-up, a lovely brand new church in Scotland, which was the only actual new building, should have won. This year there were beautiful refurbishments, like the winner and St Andrew's, Holborn, as well as whole new buildings, like the runner-up, in Bethnal Green, and ourselves, all of high quality, so I wasn't surprised no to win (though obviously I thought we should have done). The logistics of this event were very complex, involving keeping the people just coming for the awards ceremony separate from the EASA members' AGM, and feeding them first, so that EASA members could look at the shortlisted projects in their lunch break, along with the Duke of Gloucester and Prince Nicholas von Preussen, the chief judges. Obviously, HRH had to have special provision as well. All went off very smoothly, (though the royal protection officers grumbled about the size of lunch) and people were very kind about our talk. NCT still like us, which is very good.
The next day we had the boys of Sussex House School rehearsing for their processions at the Requiem, which is always a bit of a circus. This year, they have a new music master, much younger and less scary than his predecessor, so some of the dynamics were different. Then the excellent Sheila, who arranges flowers and cleans, had to be let into the church (and let out again) late at night to prepare for the Requiem. I successfully unset and reset alarms, and Sheila made wonderful, huge flower arrangements. The Requiem is always a little easier when All Souls' Day falls on a Saturday, as it did this time, because you can devote the day to preparations, and also we do it at 6pm, rather than the normal 7.30pm, and so clearing up afterwards is much less traumatic. They sang Durufle, which is lovely, and I was joined by the Vicar of St Augustine's, Kilburn, who brought a competent thurifer with him. All very good. The sanctus and benedictus of this setting work tremendously well with the canon of the Mass in the (deeply old-fashioned, but authentic) way we do it. The only down-side of Saturday is that fewer of the Sussex House families turn up than they would on a weekday. Still, it was a big congregation, and a superb act of worship. Also our new heating worked wonderfully well.
Then on the Sunday, after our own worship, we went along to All Saints, Margaret Street, for Fr Alan Moses's final service, Solemn Evensong and Benediction. Fr Alan has been there a long time, and has always been a good friend to St Mary Mags, looking after our huge monstrance when there was nowhere secure to store it here (and kindly restoring the lunette). There was a real sense of reverence and joy about the worship, although I was sorry not to be able to hear much of the sermon, seated at the back of the nave. The preacher was Bishop Allen Shin, who is suffragan bishop of New York, and was attached to All Saints twenty years ago. He was Chaplain of Keble when I first came here, so he presented me when I was licensed. Fr George Bush, seated at the side, but mush closer to the pulpit, heard it all, and said I didn't miss much. I thought it was a problem with the sound system, but old members of All Saints said they could never understand what he said when he was a regular preacher.
On the Monday morning after that, it was straight off to France for the Two Cities Area Clergy Conference, held at Merville, near Lille, in what had been the seminary of the Archdiocese of Lille, a vast, echoing brick pile of the 1920s. The rather handsome chapel had clearly been stripped of all decoration in the reforms, and there were a couple of mosaics in corridors just to tantalize you with how it might have been, but it suited our gathering, seventy clergy from the cities of London and Westminster. It was a surprisingly enjoyable few days with excellent input from Malcolm Guite, poet and Chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge.
Straight off the Eurostar I put on smart clothes and mingled with donors at an Emmanuel College drinks party in St Mary Mags. I arrived just in time to give a little talk about the Project, which the Master, Dame Fiona Reynolds (who used to run the National Trust) was very kind about. The lead up to this had been bizarre, as the Emma development office had arranged the event with our caterers without realising that it was my church, and then didn't invite me. I sent in a donation I had long promised, but the penny didn't drop until Robert Folkes emailed them to point it out. I was in France when the development office finally emailed me to invite me along, so I thought I should make the effort. There were a couple of old faces I knew, and other people were kind about our works.
This week we hosted a visit from the Ancient Monuments Society, who had to be divided into three groups, so many of them were there, so Oliver Caroe (our conservation architect) and I had to do our tours three times over, as well as an introductory double-act. This was good fun, but it would have been more enjoyable had it not been arranged for the same day as the Grand Junction Launch Party, which meant that preparations for that were going on around us. Still, AMS said they wanted to see the church at work, and they certainly did.
The Launch Party was well-attended, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Blondel Cluff CBE spoke for the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and we were very impressed with her (except that she continually referred to us as "St Mary's"). Bill Jacob did the thanks, and I just welcomed everyone and reminded them how far we had come. The community team had produced a nice little 3 minute film about the community projects. The Area Dean, Fr Paul Thomas, spoke for the Diocese, and the excellent Graham King spoke for Westminster City Council. At least some of the major donors were there, which was good, along with lots of our volunteers. We had a singer and a poet perform, before an interval at which most people left, which was a shame, as we then had a hip-hop artist called Kitch, who was quite remarkable, as he had a terrible stammer when speaking, but became entirely articulate when rapping. The last band were just a bit weird for my taste. A fair amount was drunk, and lots of the people involved with the Project were there and were able to celebrate together, which was nice. One of the designers presented me with two little tiles, uniform with our signage, of my initials, which was sweet.
In the meantime, I have had two PCC meetings, a management board meeting, First Communion preparation and anxious discussions with a school head about the mental health of a member of staff. Now I've got a funeral to arrange.
The next day we had the boys of Sussex House School rehearsing for their processions at the Requiem, which is always a bit of a circus. This year, they have a new music master, much younger and less scary than his predecessor, so some of the dynamics were different. Then the excellent Sheila, who arranges flowers and cleans, had to be let into the church (and let out again) late at night to prepare for the Requiem. I successfully unset and reset alarms, and Sheila made wonderful, huge flower arrangements. The Requiem is always a little easier when All Souls' Day falls on a Saturday, as it did this time, because you can devote the day to preparations, and also we do it at 6pm, rather than the normal 7.30pm, and so clearing up afterwards is much less traumatic. They sang Durufle, which is lovely, and I was joined by the Vicar of St Augustine's, Kilburn, who brought a competent thurifer with him. All very good. The sanctus and benedictus of this setting work tremendously well with the canon of the Mass in the (deeply old-fashioned, but authentic) way we do it. The only down-side of Saturday is that fewer of the Sussex House families turn up than they would on a weekday. Still, it was a big congregation, and a superb act of worship. Also our new heating worked wonderfully well.
Then on the Sunday, after our own worship, we went along to All Saints, Margaret Street, for Fr Alan Moses's final service, Solemn Evensong and Benediction. Fr Alan has been there a long time, and has always been a good friend to St Mary Mags, looking after our huge monstrance when there was nowhere secure to store it here (and kindly restoring the lunette). There was a real sense of reverence and joy about the worship, although I was sorry not to be able to hear much of the sermon, seated at the back of the nave. The preacher was Bishop Allen Shin, who is suffragan bishop of New York, and was attached to All Saints twenty years ago. He was Chaplain of Keble when I first came here, so he presented me when I was licensed. Fr George Bush, seated at the side, but mush closer to the pulpit, heard it all, and said I didn't miss much. I thought it was a problem with the sound system, but old members of All Saints said they could never understand what he said when he was a regular preacher.
On the Monday morning after that, it was straight off to France for the Two Cities Area Clergy Conference, held at Merville, near Lille, in what had been the seminary of the Archdiocese of Lille, a vast, echoing brick pile of the 1920s. The rather handsome chapel had clearly been stripped of all decoration in the reforms, and there were a couple of mosaics in corridors just to tantalize you with how it might have been, but it suited our gathering, seventy clergy from the cities of London and Westminster. It was a surprisingly enjoyable few days with excellent input from Malcolm Guite, poet and Chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge.
Straight off the Eurostar I put on smart clothes and mingled with donors at an Emmanuel College drinks party in St Mary Mags. I arrived just in time to give a little talk about the Project, which the Master, Dame Fiona Reynolds (who used to run the National Trust) was very kind about. The lead up to this had been bizarre, as the Emma development office had arranged the event with our caterers without realising that it was my church, and then didn't invite me. I sent in a donation I had long promised, but the penny didn't drop until Robert Folkes emailed them to point it out. I was in France when the development office finally emailed me to invite me along, so I thought I should make the effort. There were a couple of old faces I knew, and other people were kind about our works.
This week we hosted a visit from the Ancient Monuments Society, who had to be divided into three groups, so many of them were there, so Oliver Caroe (our conservation architect) and I had to do our tours three times over, as well as an introductory double-act. This was good fun, but it would have been more enjoyable had it not been arranged for the same day as the Grand Junction Launch Party, which meant that preparations for that were going on around us. Still, AMS said they wanted to see the church at work, and they certainly did.
The Launch Party was well-attended, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Blondel Cluff CBE spoke for the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and we were very impressed with her (except that she continually referred to us as "St Mary's"). Bill Jacob did the thanks, and I just welcomed everyone and reminded them how far we had come. The community team had produced a nice little 3 minute film about the community projects. The Area Dean, Fr Paul Thomas, spoke for the Diocese, and the excellent Graham King spoke for Westminster City Council. At least some of the major donors were there, which was good, along with lots of our volunteers. We had a singer and a poet perform, before an interval at which most people left, which was a shame, as we then had a hip-hop artist called Kitch, who was quite remarkable, as he had a terrible stammer when speaking, but became entirely articulate when rapping. The last band were just a bit weird for my taste. A fair amount was drunk, and lots of the people involved with the Project were there and were able to celebrate together, which was nice. One of the designers presented me with two little tiles, uniform with our signage, of my initials, which was sweet.
In the meantime, I have had two PCC meetings, a management board meeting, First Communion preparation and anxious discussions with a school head about the mental health of a member of staff. Now I've got a funeral to arrange.
Wednesday, 30 October 2019
OF LIFE AND DEATH
Yesterday the carcass of a dead Canada goose was lumped on the towpath, bedraggled and broken. A sad sight. I can only suppose a fox killed it, but it had clearly been in the water and been fished out. Rather odd.
A new goose has appeared, just a little larger than a Canada goose, and very similar, but with a white neck,white markings on the head, and orange bill and legs. I suspect it is a cross between a Canada goose and a white farm goose; but how has this happened? And how did it end up on our canal?
Today a colleague told of a firm of undertakers who didn't pay him, saying after the funeral, "Oh, we thought it was up to you to sort that out." No! It certainly isn't. The undertaker is meant to "undertake" all the arrangements on your behalf, and pay all the bills for you (the clue is in the name). That's how it has always worked. A rather alarming development if they are routinely doing that. I was also told there is a firm of undertakers whom the crem will only take a booking from if paid upfront.
A fox has started excavating my garden, but I can't understand why. It doesn't seem to be digging a hole to live in, nor is it succeeding in digging anything up, but it's certainly turning over a lot of earth. I don't want Casimir to disturb it, though he'd probably send it packing. He is a little subdued at present after getting a nasty wound in a vicious fight last week. I imagine the other cat had wounds at least as bad, as Casimir seemed to be winning, and chased the other when it made its getaway. Still, two nasty tooth marks in his cheek have resulted in antibiotics that need to be smuggled into his food. I also bathe it with saline. Of course we didn't see the wound until it started to suppurate and stink. Lovely creatures, pussy-cats!
I was in Sainsburys at Maida Hill the other Sunday, collecting my paper, and was queued up behind a young woman with two baskets of shopping, food and cleaning materials, that suggested to me that she had just moved into a new home. We were some time waiting for a person to negotiate for cigarettes and pay, and during this time a large woman with a plastic carrier bag appeared at the far end of the tills and hovered. When the till was free the Sainsburys employee called the young woman in front of me forward, but the large hovering woman immediately marched in front of her. The employee said, "There's a queue," and pointed, but the large woman said to the young woman, "Oh, but I was here first before you pushed in." The young woman was understandably taken aback and said, "Did I push in?" to which she got the reply, "Well I was here. Don't get upset." The Sainsburys employee clearly didn't want to serve her, but she was occupying the till, removing items from the random plastic bags she was carrying, and the young woman just shrugged, being told again, "Don't get upset." She was eventually served after the large woman left, and with that a second till was opened; as I presented my paper, I leaned across and said to her, "Welcome to the Harrow Road." It really was a thoroughly Harrow Road incident, with an eccentric claiming black is white and making you feel guilty for being rational.
The roads are now being dug up for fibre broadband, in a sudden outbreak of activity. At least the contractors seem to work quickly, but they just appear out of nowhere, and suddenly your route has turned single-track. It's quite disconcerting to return from an appointment to find this has happened. I'm sure it will be a good thing, but will it actually make any difference if your actual connection from your house to the network is old-fashioned copper wire?
We are preparing for our big event of the year on Saturday, the Requiem for All Souls' Day, with choirs and orchestra. This year our neighbours at St Augustine's, Kilburn, are joining us to commemorate all the faithful departed, which will be good. Some people don't approve of prayer for the dead, but it makes perfect sense to me: we pray for everyone we care about, living or dead, and are linked with them all in that great network of prayer. People regularly say how moved they have been by the service, using great music in its proper spiritual context. We always have a French Romantic setting of the Requiem Mass: sometimes it is a little-known one, but sometimes it is a great setting. This year we are using the setting by Durufle (who was president of the St Mary Magdalene Music Society in the 1960s). It should be a powerful act of worship.
A new goose has appeared, just a little larger than a Canada goose, and very similar, but with a white neck,white markings on the head, and orange bill and legs. I suspect it is a cross between a Canada goose and a white farm goose; but how has this happened? And how did it end up on our canal?
Today a colleague told of a firm of undertakers who didn't pay him, saying after the funeral, "Oh, we thought it was up to you to sort that out." No! It certainly isn't. The undertaker is meant to "undertake" all the arrangements on your behalf, and pay all the bills for you (the clue is in the name). That's how it has always worked. A rather alarming development if they are routinely doing that. I was also told there is a firm of undertakers whom the crem will only take a booking from if paid upfront.
A fox has started excavating my garden, but I can't understand why. It doesn't seem to be digging a hole to live in, nor is it succeeding in digging anything up, but it's certainly turning over a lot of earth. I don't want Casimir to disturb it, though he'd probably send it packing. He is a little subdued at present after getting a nasty wound in a vicious fight last week. I imagine the other cat had wounds at least as bad, as Casimir seemed to be winning, and chased the other when it made its getaway. Still, two nasty tooth marks in his cheek have resulted in antibiotics that need to be smuggled into his food. I also bathe it with saline. Of course we didn't see the wound until it started to suppurate and stink. Lovely creatures, pussy-cats!
I was in Sainsburys at Maida Hill the other Sunday, collecting my paper, and was queued up behind a young woman with two baskets of shopping, food and cleaning materials, that suggested to me that she had just moved into a new home. We were some time waiting for a person to negotiate for cigarettes and pay, and during this time a large woman with a plastic carrier bag appeared at the far end of the tills and hovered. When the till was free the Sainsburys employee called the young woman in front of me forward, but the large hovering woman immediately marched in front of her. The employee said, "There's a queue," and pointed, but the large woman said to the young woman, "Oh, but I was here first before you pushed in." The young woman was understandably taken aback and said, "Did I push in?" to which she got the reply, "Well I was here. Don't get upset." The Sainsburys employee clearly didn't want to serve her, but she was occupying the till, removing items from the random plastic bags she was carrying, and the young woman just shrugged, being told again, "Don't get upset." She was eventually served after the large woman left, and with that a second till was opened; as I presented my paper, I leaned across and said to her, "Welcome to the Harrow Road." It really was a thoroughly Harrow Road incident, with an eccentric claiming black is white and making you feel guilty for being rational.
The roads are now being dug up for fibre broadband, in a sudden outbreak of activity. At least the contractors seem to work quickly, but they just appear out of nowhere, and suddenly your route has turned single-track. It's quite disconcerting to return from an appointment to find this has happened. I'm sure it will be a good thing, but will it actually make any difference if your actual connection from your house to the network is old-fashioned copper wire?
We are preparing for our big event of the year on Saturday, the Requiem for All Souls' Day, with choirs and orchestra. This year our neighbours at St Augustine's, Kilburn, are joining us to commemorate all the faithful departed, which will be good. Some people don't approve of prayer for the dead, but it makes perfect sense to me: we pray for everyone we care about, living or dead, and are linked with them all in that great network of prayer. People regularly say how moved they have been by the service, using great music in its proper spiritual context. We always have a French Romantic setting of the Requiem Mass: sometimes it is a little-known one, but sometimes it is a great setting. This year we are using the setting by Durufle (who was president of the St Mary Magdalene Music Society in the 1960s). It should be a powerful act of worship.
Wednesday, 23 October 2019
THE HEART OF THE NATION
Migration Watch
There were two Home Office immigration enforcement vans parked in Goldney Road yesterday. I saw no activity, but no doubt the Border Force officers were in a flat somewhere. A few weeks ago I saw a similar van cruising along the Harrow Road. I wonder whether they are regular visitors to Belgravia as well?
Meanwhile, the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations (who knew there was such a thing?) urges us to pray for forced migration because of climate change. This causes me some discomfort, as it is frankly tendentious. Most of the world's migrants are looking for a better life, or fleeing war or civil strife. Anyone migrating because of climate change at the moment (and I'm not sure there is anyone) is choosing to do so, not being forced. If Bangladesh or the Seychelles are flooded, then people will certainly be forced to migrate, but unless I've missed it, I don't think this has happened yet. It is the case that people are being forced to leave their homes on the Suffolk coast as they fall into the sea (as they have been doing for hundreds of years) but that's not what we're being asked to pray about. Our friends at the Anglican Communion Office are attempting to establish the notion that climate change is responsible for migration, and that therefore we in the West are guilty, and so can't complain. We are expected to feel guilty for the effects of colonialism, which have been alleged to be responsible for migration in the past, and now for climate change as well, and so the idea is being presented that we should just accept migration as the consequences of our own sinfulness. Well, I'm all in favour of a generous immigration regime, but I'm afraid I don't buy the guilt. In fact, people choose to migrate to the West because these are prosperous, peaceful and relatively uncorrupt countries where people have a chance of getting on in life. That's fine. Most Western countries need immigration for economic reasons thanks to our low birth-rate, and it's of course our duty to give refuge to people fleeing war or tyranny, but none of this adds up to a completely open door imposed on us as a punishment for sin.
This morning comes the news of thirty-nine migrants found dead in the back of a lorry in Thurrock. That really is a sin. People-trafficking is thoroughly evil, and those who seek to maintain national borders are not responsible for it. The callous criminals who do it are totally responsible. One of the main pieces of learning I took away from our involvement with looking after migrants in Reading, was that these people are totally heartless and deeply manipulative.
The Abbey Habit
We went in pilgrimage to the Abbey on Saturday, and changed our route to avoid the "People's Vote" march, but fortunately we started a lot earlier than them. There were already people around in silly blue berets, and I noticed that there were enterprising sellers of merchandise, rather like a pop festival, but during the morning they were easy to avoid. Most of the time that we were in the Abbey we weren't conscious of them, even as they filled Parliament Square next door, but when we went out into the College Garden at lunchtime we were conscious of a sort of hum beyond the garden wall. It was rather surreal to think that we were immediately behind the BBC's tent. When we were sitting waiting for Evensong to begin there came a loud cheer which was clearly audible, which was for the passage of the Letwin amendment. After that the remainers went home happy.
Our parish party was smaller than last year, which was a shame since the weather was so good, but I had enthused some Deanery colleagues, so Paddington Deanery was well-represented. It is great to see the Abbey given over to worship and prayer, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Picnics in the Cloister were very jolly (something that of course is normally verboten). The Abbey makes much of its position offering faith at the heart of the nation, but it genuinely felt like that, with this strange juxtaposition. The Archbishop of Canterbury preached, not very well. It was mostly about leadership, and he didn't really seem to have embraced the occasion, which was a shame. I guess he was thinking about what was going on across the road, but didn't dare say anything clear. His chaplain had not embraced the occasion to the extent of sitting there in scarf and hood when everyone else was wearing a stole. Oddly ungracious. I hope she enjoyed the copious quantities of incense!
There were two Home Office immigration enforcement vans parked in Goldney Road yesterday. I saw no activity, but no doubt the Border Force officers were in a flat somewhere. A few weeks ago I saw a similar van cruising along the Harrow Road. I wonder whether they are regular visitors to Belgravia as well?
Meanwhile, the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations (who knew there was such a thing?) urges us to pray for forced migration because of climate change. This causes me some discomfort, as it is frankly tendentious. Most of the world's migrants are looking for a better life, or fleeing war or civil strife. Anyone migrating because of climate change at the moment (and I'm not sure there is anyone) is choosing to do so, not being forced. If Bangladesh or the Seychelles are flooded, then people will certainly be forced to migrate, but unless I've missed it, I don't think this has happened yet. It is the case that people are being forced to leave their homes on the Suffolk coast as they fall into the sea (as they have been doing for hundreds of years) but that's not what we're being asked to pray about. Our friends at the Anglican Communion Office are attempting to establish the notion that climate change is responsible for migration, and that therefore we in the West are guilty, and so can't complain. We are expected to feel guilty for the effects of colonialism, which have been alleged to be responsible for migration in the past, and now for climate change as well, and so the idea is being presented that we should just accept migration as the consequences of our own sinfulness. Well, I'm all in favour of a generous immigration regime, but I'm afraid I don't buy the guilt. In fact, people choose to migrate to the West because these are prosperous, peaceful and relatively uncorrupt countries where people have a chance of getting on in life. That's fine. Most Western countries need immigration for economic reasons thanks to our low birth-rate, and it's of course our duty to give refuge to people fleeing war or tyranny, but none of this adds up to a completely open door imposed on us as a punishment for sin.
This morning comes the news of thirty-nine migrants found dead in the back of a lorry in Thurrock. That really is a sin. People-trafficking is thoroughly evil, and those who seek to maintain national borders are not responsible for it. The callous criminals who do it are totally responsible. One of the main pieces of learning I took away from our involvement with looking after migrants in Reading, was that these people are totally heartless and deeply manipulative.
The Abbey Habit
We went in pilgrimage to the Abbey on Saturday, and changed our route to avoid the "People's Vote" march, but fortunately we started a lot earlier than them. There were already people around in silly blue berets, and I noticed that there were enterprising sellers of merchandise, rather like a pop festival, but during the morning they were easy to avoid. Most of the time that we were in the Abbey we weren't conscious of them, even as they filled Parliament Square next door, but when we went out into the College Garden at lunchtime we were conscious of a sort of hum beyond the garden wall. It was rather surreal to think that we were immediately behind the BBC's tent. When we were sitting waiting for Evensong to begin there came a loud cheer which was clearly audible, which was for the passage of the Letwin amendment. After that the remainers went home happy.
Our parish party was smaller than last year, which was a shame since the weather was so good, but I had enthused some Deanery colleagues, so Paddington Deanery was well-represented. It is great to see the Abbey given over to worship and prayer, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Picnics in the Cloister were very jolly (something that of course is normally verboten). The Abbey makes much of its position offering faith at the heart of the nation, but it genuinely felt like that, with this strange juxtaposition. The Archbishop of Canterbury preached, not very well. It was mostly about leadership, and he didn't really seem to have embraced the occasion, which was a shame. I guess he was thinking about what was going on across the road, but didn't dare say anything clear. His chaplain had not embraced the occasion to the extent of sitting there in scarf and hood when everyone else was wearing a stole. Oddly ungracious. I hope she enjoyed the copious quantities of incense!
Monday, 30 September 2019
IN TRANSLATION
St Jerome
I write this on the feast of St Jerome, who translated the scriptures into Latin around the turn of the fifth century. Jerome was a pugnacious old character, some of whose views (as for instance on the moral superiority of the single to the married state) I find a bit distasteful, and he was very unkind to the memory of Origen, a great earlier theologian. The really positive point about Jerome, though, is his fervent desire to translate the scriptures, so that they could be understood. Christianity had emerged in a Greek-speaking environment, and in New Testament times Greek was the language of the people among whom Christianity was expanding, but three hundred and fifty years later this was no longer the case, and Jerome saw the need for an authoritative Latin translation of the scriptures. By Jerome's lifetime, although reading Greek was a badge of scholarship in the Roman world, it was no longer essential, as Latin had conquered the academic as well as the administrative world. For example, his great contemporary Augustine did not read Greek. More importantly, ordinary people in most of the Empire knew Latin rather than Greek.
There was a Latin New Testament before Jerome, which the scholars call the "Old Latin" text, the "Vetus Latina", only, confusingly, it was written in what linguists call "Late Latin" not "Old Latin", nor was it strictly "a Latin New Testament", because there were many different translations of separate books. So Jerome's work on the New Testament was partly about establishing a single, authoritative, version, in a consistent prose style, and he worked from the Vetus Latina, correcting translations against the oldest Greek manuscripts he could find, and generally improving the grammar. When it came to the Old Testament, although there were Vetus Latina versions for some books, Jerome was essentially starting from scratch, producing his own new Latin version, and going back where he could to Hebrew texts, rather than just the Greek. to work from.This was controversial in itself, as the Greek Septuagint was regarded by some of his contemporaries as itself a divinely-inspired text (rather as some Christians today regard the King James Bible) and Hebrew texts were, in some eyes, tainted by their association with Judaism. For Jerome, though, it was obvious that getting back to the oldest versions of biblical texts would reveal the most authoritative text, and enable the translation to be reliable.
Ironically, Jerome's Latin Bible (the "Vulgate") only finally officially displaced all the Vetus Latina versions in the sixteenth century, at just the moment that Reformers were translating the scriptures into vernacular languages under exactly the same impulse. Liturgy and scripture need to be understood by the faithful, was Jerome's view, and that of the Reformers.
At the school Mass this morning I took the Year 4 class into the middle of the nave and got them to look up at the ceiling to see the portrait of St Jerome up there. He is, of course, easily recognisable, as he is dressed in his broad-brimmed red hat and red robes as a (completely anachronistic) cardinal. I didn't bother with the anachronism, but asked them to find a man with a big red hat and red cloak, and a big black beard. They were very pleased to find him easily. Talking about putting the scriptures into different languages makes sense in this environment where there are more than fifty different home languages among the pupils.
I was struck while I was doing this with the thought that our attitudes to translation go to the heart of the difference between Christianity and Islam. In Islam, the text of the Qur'an is believed to have been uttered by God in classical Arabic, and taken down as dictation by the Prophet Muhammad. While translations exist, they are never allowed to claim to be the Qur'an, but "versions" of it, and essentially the believer is urged to learn classical Arabic in order to approach the text. The text is given; it is the person who must change. A perfect example of the "submission" embodied in Islam. Christianity meanwhile, maintains a notion of the sacredness and inviolability of the scriptures, but accepts that translation has always taken place (even in Old Testament times) and believes that the scriptures need to be translated into the languages of humanity so that humanity may hear the message properly. We don't even know for sure whether Jesus spoke Greek; we assume he taught in Aramaic, which means that the Gospels contain translations of his teaching. He could almost certainly read and speak Greek, but the evidence suggests he generally spoke Aramaic to ordinary people, because that was their language. So Christianity has always wanted to be accessible to different cultures on their own terms (despite remoulding Christianity into a European shape in colonial times, and an American shape in the modern world).
I write this on the feast of St Jerome, who translated the scriptures into Latin around the turn of the fifth century. Jerome was a pugnacious old character, some of whose views (as for instance on the moral superiority of the single to the married state) I find a bit distasteful, and he was very unkind to the memory of Origen, a great earlier theologian. The really positive point about Jerome, though, is his fervent desire to translate the scriptures, so that they could be understood. Christianity had emerged in a Greek-speaking environment, and in New Testament times Greek was the language of the people among whom Christianity was expanding, but three hundred and fifty years later this was no longer the case, and Jerome saw the need for an authoritative Latin translation of the scriptures. By Jerome's lifetime, although reading Greek was a badge of scholarship in the Roman world, it was no longer essential, as Latin had conquered the academic as well as the administrative world. For example, his great contemporary Augustine did not read Greek. More importantly, ordinary people in most of the Empire knew Latin rather than Greek.
There was a Latin New Testament before Jerome, which the scholars call the "Old Latin" text, the "Vetus Latina", only, confusingly, it was written in what linguists call "Late Latin" not "Old Latin", nor was it strictly "a Latin New Testament", because there were many different translations of separate books. So Jerome's work on the New Testament was partly about establishing a single, authoritative, version, in a consistent prose style, and he worked from the Vetus Latina, correcting translations against the oldest Greek manuscripts he could find, and generally improving the grammar. When it came to the Old Testament, although there were Vetus Latina versions for some books, Jerome was essentially starting from scratch, producing his own new Latin version, and going back where he could to Hebrew texts, rather than just the Greek. to work from.This was controversial in itself, as the Greek Septuagint was regarded by some of his contemporaries as itself a divinely-inspired text (rather as some Christians today regard the King James Bible) and Hebrew texts were, in some eyes, tainted by their association with Judaism. For Jerome, though, it was obvious that getting back to the oldest versions of biblical texts would reveal the most authoritative text, and enable the translation to be reliable.
Ironically, Jerome's Latin Bible (the "Vulgate") only finally officially displaced all the Vetus Latina versions in the sixteenth century, at just the moment that Reformers were translating the scriptures into vernacular languages under exactly the same impulse. Liturgy and scripture need to be understood by the faithful, was Jerome's view, and that of the Reformers.
At the school Mass this morning I took the Year 4 class into the middle of the nave and got them to look up at the ceiling to see the portrait of St Jerome up there. He is, of course, easily recognisable, as he is dressed in his broad-brimmed red hat and red robes as a (completely anachronistic) cardinal. I didn't bother with the anachronism, but asked them to find a man with a big red hat and red cloak, and a big black beard. They were very pleased to find him easily. Talking about putting the scriptures into different languages makes sense in this environment where there are more than fifty different home languages among the pupils.
I was struck while I was doing this with the thought that our attitudes to translation go to the heart of the difference between Christianity and Islam. In Islam, the text of the Qur'an is believed to have been uttered by God in classical Arabic, and taken down as dictation by the Prophet Muhammad. While translations exist, they are never allowed to claim to be the Qur'an, but "versions" of it, and essentially the believer is urged to learn classical Arabic in order to approach the text. The text is given; it is the person who must change. A perfect example of the "submission" embodied in Islam. Christianity meanwhile, maintains a notion of the sacredness and inviolability of the scriptures, but accepts that translation has always taken place (even in Old Testament times) and believes that the scriptures need to be translated into the languages of humanity so that humanity may hear the message properly. We don't even know for sure whether Jesus spoke Greek; we assume he taught in Aramaic, which means that the Gospels contain translations of his teaching. He could almost certainly read and speak Greek, but the evidence suggests he generally spoke Aramaic to ordinary people, because that was their language. So Christianity has always wanted to be accessible to different cultures on their own terms (despite remoulding Christianity into a European shape in colonial times, and an American shape in the modern world).
Monday, 16 September 2019
TOWN AND COUNTRY
Wellness, or not.
Writing last Sunday's sermon was derailed on Friday lunchtime when I got a call from the PDT staff in the church, saying there was a lady there who was asking for the priest. So I went over. Three hours later I returned home. When I went into church one of the junior PDT staff said to me, "I'm pretty sure she's having a psychotic episode," so I asked them to please stay around while I talked to the lady. That turned out to be a correct observation, but the lady didn't seem dangerous, just very distressed. Fortunately the staff member thought to call someone who had delivered mental health first aid training for them, who came at once, and we spent the rest of the afternoon essentially trying to interact with the lady. She would talk about God, but not about herself, so we couldn't get any of the sort of information you need to help someone, It soon became clear that we weren't getting anywhere, so an ambulance was summoned, but it took the best part of two hours to get to us. This enabled the lady to have a rest, and she was more switched on when they arrived, but she wouldn't tell them her name, or let them look in her bag. She went outside with them, but then ran away when she saw the ambulance. They went after her, in a gentle way.
The last time we had someone as unwell as that at the church he ended up impaling his foot on the railings, trying to climb over them. The fire brigade had to be summoned to cut him loose, because apparently you aren't allowed to lift someone impaled off whatever they are impaled on in case it causes catastrophic bleeding. Actually the blood vessels in your foot aren't huge, so this wasn't much of a danger, but they had to follow their procedure, so I was reduced to saying, "That's a Grade-1 listed gate, be careful! And make sure I get it back." I was delighted to find a charming police officer on my doorstep later that evening (a Westcountryman) who gave me back the portion of gate, which St Mary's A&E had removed from the foot, and said, "Sorry, if I was back home, I'd weld it for you myself, but I haven't got my gear here." We found a blacksmith who did the necessary. It was at that point that I noticed that the gates and railings had clearly had extra spikes welded onto them at some point. Not the way we do it today.
Saturday night
Saturday night involved a lot of noise outside the house. When I went over to say Morning Prayer I observed a load of fast food cartons on the road, and about 50 nitrous oxide canisters. My virtuous churchwarden decided to sweep it all up, as you did have to pick your way through it to get to the church door, which she thought wasn't a great look for us. Cycling over to St Peter's to collect all the service sheets (which I would have done on Friday if I'd had an afternoon) I ran over a rat on the Canalside; it was spooked by a bike in front of me and ran straight under my front wheel. Still, it wasn't there when I came back, so I concluded that I didn't injure it much.
Music night
On Thursday, the Music Society celebrated the completion of our building work with an organ recital interspersed with talks from Nicholas Kaye and me, a recipe that worked generally very well (though I underestimated the length of some of the passages from G.E.Street's Life that I was going to read). This was very well received, so I think we shall use a similar recipe again, maybe featuring Betjeman, for instance. James made a very good choice of music, with a piece by Bill Lloyd Webber, who was choirmaster at St Mary Mags in the 1930s (before going to Margaret Street) as well as a Durufle piece that made reference to his "Messe Cum Jubilo" which had its first UK performance here in 1968 (and other rousing items). We were told that both Jean Langlais and Flor Peeters (famous composers for the organ) came here in the 1960s, which gives us some more repertoire.
At the Museum
On Friday evening (somewhat shell-shocked) to the British Museum for the historian Tom Holland giving a lecture to launch his new book "Dominion"; the perfect antidote. I have rarely been at an event when I so thoroughly agreed with the speaker's every word. It is an account of how everything good in our civilisation comes from Christianity (I simplify, obviously). I bought the book, and he signed it. As he did so, I said that I had expressed some of what he had said in a recent sermon, which might worry him. He did look a bit worried. Still, buy the book!
The Thames Valley
On Saturday we thought to go out into the country to take advantage of the nice weather. A friend had an exhibition of his pictures in Henley-on-Thames, and so I thought we would go there and meet friends for tea. As a late afterthought, I decided to pop into All Saints, Boyne Hill, in Maidenhead, another major work by G.E.Street, on the way. We spent an hour and a half in Maidenhead, chatting to an enthusiast and looking carefully. That meant we didn't have long to get to our tea date in Henley, but I thought it would be easy, as it isn't far. However, traffic has got heavier in the Thames Valley since I lived there, and we spent forty-five minutes in queues and trying to park. This did not make for an enjoyable time. Still we managed to meet up with our friends, and had a very pleasant riverside walk in the end. Henley is a bit manicured for my taste, but the upper Thames is very lovely.
Writing last Sunday's sermon was derailed on Friday lunchtime when I got a call from the PDT staff in the church, saying there was a lady there who was asking for the priest. So I went over. Three hours later I returned home. When I went into church one of the junior PDT staff said to me, "I'm pretty sure she's having a psychotic episode," so I asked them to please stay around while I talked to the lady. That turned out to be a correct observation, but the lady didn't seem dangerous, just very distressed. Fortunately the staff member thought to call someone who had delivered mental health first aid training for them, who came at once, and we spent the rest of the afternoon essentially trying to interact with the lady. She would talk about God, but not about herself, so we couldn't get any of the sort of information you need to help someone, It soon became clear that we weren't getting anywhere, so an ambulance was summoned, but it took the best part of two hours to get to us. This enabled the lady to have a rest, and she was more switched on when they arrived, but she wouldn't tell them her name, or let them look in her bag. She went outside with them, but then ran away when she saw the ambulance. They went after her, in a gentle way.
The last time we had someone as unwell as that at the church he ended up impaling his foot on the railings, trying to climb over them. The fire brigade had to be summoned to cut him loose, because apparently you aren't allowed to lift someone impaled off whatever they are impaled on in case it causes catastrophic bleeding. Actually the blood vessels in your foot aren't huge, so this wasn't much of a danger, but they had to follow their procedure, so I was reduced to saying, "That's a Grade-1 listed gate, be careful! And make sure I get it back." I was delighted to find a charming police officer on my doorstep later that evening (a Westcountryman) who gave me back the portion of gate, which St Mary's A&E had removed from the foot, and said, "Sorry, if I was back home, I'd weld it for you myself, but I haven't got my gear here." We found a blacksmith who did the necessary. It was at that point that I noticed that the gates and railings had clearly had extra spikes welded onto them at some point. Not the way we do it today.
Saturday night
Saturday night involved a lot of noise outside the house. When I went over to say Morning Prayer I observed a load of fast food cartons on the road, and about 50 nitrous oxide canisters. My virtuous churchwarden decided to sweep it all up, as you did have to pick your way through it to get to the church door, which she thought wasn't a great look for us. Cycling over to St Peter's to collect all the service sheets (which I would have done on Friday if I'd had an afternoon) I ran over a rat on the Canalside; it was spooked by a bike in front of me and ran straight under my front wheel. Still, it wasn't there when I came back, so I concluded that I didn't injure it much.
Music night
On Thursday, the Music Society celebrated the completion of our building work with an organ recital interspersed with talks from Nicholas Kaye and me, a recipe that worked generally very well (though I underestimated the length of some of the passages from G.E.Street's Life that I was going to read). This was very well received, so I think we shall use a similar recipe again, maybe featuring Betjeman, for instance. James made a very good choice of music, with a piece by Bill Lloyd Webber, who was choirmaster at St Mary Mags in the 1930s (before going to Margaret Street) as well as a Durufle piece that made reference to his "Messe Cum Jubilo" which had its first UK performance here in 1968 (and other rousing items). We were told that both Jean Langlais and Flor Peeters (famous composers for the organ) came here in the 1960s, which gives us some more repertoire.
At the Museum
On Friday evening (somewhat shell-shocked) to the British Museum for the historian Tom Holland giving a lecture to launch his new book "Dominion"; the perfect antidote. I have rarely been at an event when I so thoroughly agreed with the speaker's every word. It is an account of how everything good in our civilisation comes from Christianity (I simplify, obviously). I bought the book, and he signed it. As he did so, I said that I had expressed some of what he had said in a recent sermon, which might worry him. He did look a bit worried. Still, buy the book!
The Thames Valley
On Saturday we thought to go out into the country to take advantage of the nice weather. A friend had an exhibition of his pictures in Henley-on-Thames, and so I thought we would go there and meet friends for tea. As a late afterthought, I decided to pop into All Saints, Boyne Hill, in Maidenhead, another major work by G.E.Street, on the way. We spent an hour and a half in Maidenhead, chatting to an enthusiast and looking carefully. That meant we didn't have long to get to our tea date in Henley, but I thought it would be easy, as it isn't far. However, traffic has got heavier in the Thames Valley since I lived there, and we spent forty-five minutes in queues and trying to park. This did not make for an enjoyable time. Still we managed to meet up with our friends, and had a very pleasant riverside walk in the end. Henley is a bit manicured for my taste, but the upper Thames is very lovely.
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