The Great Churches of the City of London

Most people probably think of the City of London as a grey place of enormous office buildings. Not so; at least it's only partly true. The City is also very beautiful, and its wealth ensures that it stays that way. It's scrupulously clean and well-ordered, partly because so few tourists go there, and if one doesn't care for modern office buildings, one can marvel at the 35 glorious churches. They are mostly by Sir Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke and Nicholas Hawksmoor who rebuilt them after the Great Fire of London destroyed no less than 86 of them. These churches and their often hidden churchyards are the gems of the City, beautifully maintained through their association with one or more of the wealthy Livery Companies. Yesterday I visited St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, one of the oldest, and was astonished at its near perfect survival since the C13th - in recent centuries through support with the Butchers' Livery company and others. My Livery Company, the Drapers' has had the advowson (right to appoint the priest) of St Michael's Cornhill, since 1503. And on another glorious spring day, I visited St Paul's and was astonished at its scale and magnificence. Click the heading for some photos of St Bartholomew the Great and here for photos of St Paul's.

Favourite Poems - Sowing - Edward Thomas

One of the visitors to this Journal has suggested this spring-time poem by Edward Thomas.

IT was a perfect day

For sowing; just
As sweet and dry was the ground
As tobacco-dust.

I tasted deep the hour
Between the far
Owl's chuckling first soft cry
And the first star.

A long stretched hour it was;
Nothing undone
Remained; the early seeds
All safely sown.

And now, hark at the rain,
Windless and light,
Half a kiss, half a tear,
Saying good-night.


Edward Thomas - Sowing

Lord Mayor's Lunch for the Soldiers' Charity at the Guildhall

The Lord Mayor gave the now annual lunch at the Guildhall to raise money for the Soldiers' Charity (ABF) on a glorious spring day. The lunch was attended by the Duke of Kent as well as General Sir Nicholas Parker, the head of the army. Over £100,000 was raised by silent auction. Click the heading for some photos from the event.

United Guilds' Service at St Paul's

The City Livery Companies come together once a year to commemorate their origins as religious as well as commercial fraternities at a service at St Paul's Cathedral known as the United Guilds' Service. The ceremony itself dates from the Second World War as described in an earlier post, and brings together the Masters, Prime Wardens, Bailiffs and members of the now 108 Livery Companies together with a representative of the Queen (this year the Princess Royal), the Church, represented by the Bishop of London, and the City Corporation in the shape of the Lord Mayor and his Sheriffs. The Dean of St Paul's leads the service and the sermon is given by a distinguished clergyman, this year the Dean of Westminster. On no other occasion do the Monarchy, the Church, and the commercial and charitable sides of the City come together in such a splendid display of pageantry. Click the heading for some photos of St Paul's, though not of the service itself.

Favourite Places - St James' Park

Spring in St James' Park. Click the heading for more photos

Hymn to Dear Japan

Please click the heading for this moving ode written in the late 1970's by singer / songwriter Masashi Sada. The English subtitles will reveal how poignant his words are.

The Scourge of Piracy

I must turn from the mostly peaceful thoughts and scenes depicted in this Journal to a comment on a dreadful man-made scourge that is making the lives of international seafarers in my former profession an increasingly dangerous and fear-filled one.

A new website, Save Our Seaferers, set up by the world's key international shipping bodies, states


Over 800 seafarers are being held hostage by armed gangs of Somali pirates, in appalling conditions, subject to physical and psychological abuse, for up to 8 months. Their ships have been hijacked at sea and they are being held for ransoms of millions of dollars. The human cost to seafarers and their families is enormous.

The website has been set up to help us persuade governments to act more forcefully than they are presently doing against piracy. Wherever you live, you can sign an attached letter which will then be sent your own government.

The problem is actually worse than the website describes, as although initially the pirates rarely killed their seafarer hostages, they are now beginning to torture and kill seafarers in order to hold off counter-attacks and to extract higher and faster ransom payments (Lloyd's List article on 7th Feb 2011)

The only way to stop large-scale piracy is to do what was done in the C19th - declare piracy an international scourge and allow the world's legitimate forces to attack them if they are found at sea. In practice the UN should declare a no-sail area a stated distance off the coast of Somalia and destroy all non-IMO-registered craft found outside it - as well as all hijacked ships being used as motherships by pirates. This would allow fishing and local trade to continue but deny the pirates access to international waters.  

Favourite Places - Bluebell Wood in Wiltshire

Bluebell Wood at East Kennett in May

I've only reposted this to cheer us up in these cold, damp and dark February days

Shop Design

It no doubts attests to a shallow nature, but I love the design of shops, shop windows and their advertisments and take photos of many of the best ones. Click the heading for a selection.

Takeda No Komoriuta

The Lullaby of Takeda

This is probaby Japan's most famous lullaby; the gentle song of a child longing for home. But the underlying story is heartbreaking; in the olden days children were sold by their poor parents into often harsh domestic service and couldn't return home until they were twenty years old, by which time their parents were usually gone. It's a story that crosses Asia.

See also an English Nursery song