The More Things Change.......

We took the train to Worcester yesterday to see the Royal Worcester Porcelain Factory. It's gone. Then we thought that we could see where Worcestershire sauce was made. It's gone. The city has had its heart sold. The historic Worcester Porcelain factory has been sold to a competitor who has closed it down, so those of you that have any Royal Worcester, hang on to it. It will finance your great grand children's retirement! The sauce plant has been bought by a foreign company and it has been closed. The city has a general feeling of sadness and hopelessness. There are job finding offices everywhere and lines of people filling in forms or just loitering, I suppose in hope of finding something. Many of the businesses are closed.

Having said all that we had a great day. The cathedral is wonderful. We complain that Canadians don't appreciate their historic culture. Things get demolished without thought (in our opinion). Well, as the French say, "The more things change, the more they stay the same" (only in French). The first monastery was built in the 600's. But then Oswald came along and torn it down without a backward glance in 983. Wulfstan, in 1084, thought the former building not grand enough. In 1317, Wulfstan's monastery was so not in style. Cromwell took exception to all the "popish" stain glass and things had to be rebuilt in 1660. The Victorians got their hands on the place in 1854. Fortunately, Wulfstan's crypt is still there and is now the best preserved example in the country. Doing excavation work in the 1980's they found the grave of a pilgrim, his boots pretty much in tact. As Janelle says, expensive shoes are always worth the money. The thing I most liked in the whole building were three small carvings from 1317 showing the angel Gabriel talking to Mary; Mary and Elizabeth meeting; and the Nativity scene. Most people then were illiterate but the birth of Christ was before their eyes each Sunday.

Down the street, before Columbus bumped into North America, Mr. Green was putting up his new house, The Greyfriars, in 1487. Although the same age as Snowshill Manor, this was a city house and more prosperous. The ceilings were higher. The rooms lighter.

It was election day and all the pundits were predicting a hung Parliament, a minority gov't, in our terms. The polling station was the very grand Queen Anne guildhall. We liked some of the signs in the local shops.