Culture and stuff

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 31 March 2005 12:32:07

Well, I did end up taking the break, sort of. In between putting my professional knowledge to use in starting a relatives UCAS search with them I have done a bit of culture and stuff.

Rochester is a beautiful town, which I was informed very politely and clearly, when I went to investigate in the local tourist information does not have a McDonalds. However, it does have a castle with some good walls, and a lovely cathedral. The cathedral is a bit of a wierd and wonderful one in terms of being a mix of architecture from different periods.

There are also some really interesting bits around it, like the hand on the wall holding something like a dart, which the guide said he had never been able to find out what it was or why it was there. The guide being a really helpful bloke who knew how to engage in conversation and not talk down to people, just connect with them whilst explaining about the cathedral. (In fact he was so much unlike your usual guide we thought he was somebody higher up in the church who was doing it as a bit of a keep down to earth thing, but we found out we were wrong there).

Also the town has some wonderful second hand book shops and indy clothing shops and stuff, so basically it was really good. Oh and in food terms the cathedral has an amazing tea room.

What was interesting was unlike its neighbour Canterbury (which you have to pay to get into, unless going to a service) which takes the view, certainly from an outsiders point of view, that it is a tourist attraction first and a church second Rochester was the complete reverse (and so you are happy to donate to the maitenence and ongoing work of). You could really feel God and a sense of community in Rochester. It was similar to Beverley in this respect, another cathedral where you can see the evidence of its use by a variety of people.

Interesting final note on it was that they have an extremely nationalistic stained glassed window, where Jesus is holding the standard of St. George when resurected, but have overcome this apparent view of ages past and now have a bishop who is of Asian heritage. It was good to see that we have moved a long way in the last 100 years or so.