Categories: uncategorized
Date: 23 April 2005 21:12:07
I spent this afternoon at one of my favourite London places - Greenwich Park. The only Royal Park south of the river, and not too far from where I live, with great views over the Thames and into the City and West End. A great place for a picnic with friends - must do that in the summer before I go. And from there I got 3 for the price of 1 culture in the form of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Royal Observatory and the Queens House. The Observatory was fascinating, seeing all those incredibly intricate globes and instruments designed to map the stars, and the clock machinery which measured longitude was mind-blowing. I particularly enjoyed the Queens House's current exhibition of photography, The Coast Exposed, which was photographs from the National Trust and Magnum photographic agency detailing the areas of the British Coast which are under the auspices of the National Trust. Sometimes I get really cheesed off with the National Trust and think that it's there to prop up the stately piles of once-rich toffs who should get a real job, but the conservation work they're doing along some of these coastal stretches is impressive, and I love the fact that so many otherwise inaccessible places are now accessible to oiks like me.
I've also done a bit of background research for my big adventure tomorrow - my first experience of Mystery Worshipping! I've signed up for Mystery Worshipper Sunday so will launch myself on an unsuspecting church and hope that my fake glasses and moustache don't arouse too many suspicions! I must say I'm really looking forward to it, though as there's been quite a lot of publicity about it I'm a bit worried that I'll be collared by the church warden as soon as I turn up and be rumbled from the start - I'm really not a very convincing liar! I even dreamt about it last night - I dreamt that I was MWing a URC church in Leeds with a school friend (who happens to be Jewish, and has never lived in Leeds, but it was a dream after all) and the minister spotted my attempts to surreptitiously put the card in the collection plate and introduced me to everyone as the Mystery Worshipper! Hopefully I can be a bit more discreet in real life! I'll let you know how it goes (though the identity of the victim er I mean lucky church will stay secret till the reports are published on 10th May!).
Diet: I cooked quinoa pilaf again. If this diet produced no other result, introducing me to that wonderful dish will have made it worth it. Yum.