Sense and Non-Sense

We visited the Anglican Cathedral at the weekend. It is sometime since I have been and I forgot how wonderful bits of it actually are. I know main interior is so impressive and just well big but the most important part is the Lady Chapel (I am sorry to say that this picture does not really give any impression of the actuality). When I was first in the city, some long time ago, I would go into town on Saturday mornings and then go up to the Cathedral to sit in the Lady Chapel and listen to the Organ practice. We were there this Saturday and I am pleased to say that the Organ practice still happens on Saturday. The Organ in the Lady Chapel is high up at the back and if you walk backwards down the isle in the direction of the Altar, you suddenly see yourself in the Organists mirror way up on the back wall. I always feel that that this part of the Cathedral looks better if the light outside is subdued. The huge main windows of the Cathedral need bright light to be at their best (though being so bug they are quite impressive in any light) but the Lady Chapel is so compact and complicated that a subdued Autumn Saturday is just perfect for lighting it correctly. There are long narrow galleries at what you would call the first story between the main seating and the Organ loft and these have hidden lights that give the whole place a warm inviting feeling. As I said, the decor is quite complicated but its seems somehow less fussy than its Victorian predecessors, like the designer was beginning to get embarrassed at the excesses of his immediate ancestors. I have some pictures of the Lady Chapel somewhere so they will have to go on the long list of things to scan in and post here.

I dreamed of plane crashes again last night. This is twice in a month. It was probably because of seeing more pictures of September 11th on a programme about Imagine by John Lennon - Imagine IMAGINE. I suspect and hope that John lennon, had he not been shot, would have bought up every copy of this song and burnt it. I know it has a wonderful sentiment but all it does is prompt people to sit around holding hands and singing rather than going out and actually doing something about it. I am with Robert Elms who will not play it on his radio show (Unless someone pledges £500 for Children in Need. No Possession huh! How much is that damn piano worth now? Bono goes out and argues with presidents rather than the press so he is off his backside and doing something rather than sitting in a bag or a bed. I know you cannot argue with the overall sentiment of the song and that it very dangerous to have a go at a Son of this very city, but he was a bit limited in his outlook was old Lennon. Instant Karma got him. Obviously talking about Bono made me think of this second-hand witticism. Need to read some of my Wife's books on this subject.

I dreamed of the plane crash though it was second hand - I was being told of a crash from years ago when the person telling the story lost her boyfriend. The plane was some sort of fighter plane that crashed into a church and lay almost intact in the Knave. I could see pictures though I cannot remember whether they were real or my imaginings of the scene as it was related to me by the pilot’s wife/girlfriend. Dreams are never really like they are described are they. I read so many dreams listed on blogs and they all seem to be "this happened and then that happened" - there is no well the impression I got was of this but I cannot really remember whether it was here or there. This makes me believe the idea that dreams are just the brain trying to make sense of the mess of stimulation it gets when you are asleep. Sometimes you have a dream that seems so real and I have heard of people who "wake up" in their dream and then are surprised to wake up again. I have sometime had trouble remembering whether a memory I have is from a dream or really happened but I have never woken up and been not been able to distinguish dream from reality at the point of switchover. My dream trademark is that everything seems to take place outside. Even when I am in situations which only ever take place inside buildings, the sky is open; there are walls and furniture but I can still see the horizon and the sky. It is this weird ever-present sense of the world around me. Well all you clever clogs out there - what does that mean?

I really like Autumn. Howevere there is a danger that "the very corridors swim with autumn leaves and the smell of bonfires" (apologies to Sue Townsend but I cannot find the eact line though maybe I should be apologising to John Tydeman who supposedly wrote the letter.) so maybe an alternative approach it required. More later.