Canterbury Tales 5-13-12

Canterbury, England

I’m sitting here in the Canterbury Cathedral library answering letters, posting photos, sending out things, and decided a note I just wrote to a dear friend was worth posting here without photo links.

I’ve just spent the night in a rather Numinous sort of place – Canterbury Cathedral. The Cathedral Close contains a grand accommodation with meeting rooms, a splendid library, and fine dining room. It proves a rather excellent place to be. Yesterday was given to making about five hundred images of the cathedral, inside and out. It is a bit heady collecting fourteen hundred years of history in little more than six hours. It is surreal that this collective creative work of more than a millennium survived the bombings of the second war. I find myself grateful for those specks of peace that mankind allows itself.

The appearance of the Cathedral at midnight is almost beyond words, perhaps it really is. During the day it has a million tourists in it. At night when the precinct is closed to the public one can wander around in solitude, a rarified experience to say the least. One can get very still and know God. It’s so rare to be in such a world-class treasure at night. So often one is limited to the usual 9-5 tourist arrangements. Sunset and sunrise in such a world class heritage site is surreal. I’m thinking a week back here later in the year might be a really grand plan. Alas, I’m off to Norway today. Someone has to go take pictures of the fjords during a sublime emergence from winter. Life is immensely generous at present.

It’s a mixed thing. I wish I had more time to write more letters, do more photo indexing, and share with you in real time. Alas, I am spending my time out and about ‘collecting’ images, figuring I can’t do this time shifted from home. I’ve already indexed 1,400 images. I figure to come home with somewhere around 8-10 thousand images. Don’t worry I won’t upload them to your computer.

We are having another spring here. Daffodils, tulips, and primrose are in full regalia. The great joy of distance travel to higher latitudes is the re-experience of spring – like getting Chesterton’s second fleck of paradise on the shore. .Life is colorful, the sky is clear and the temperature perfect. Dinner last night was sublime. An Indian Tandoori a bucolic short walk from the Cathedral Close offered a prawn korma, sang paneer, tandoori chicken, nan, mango lassi, and salad. The attention to detail was surreal – Egyptian fine count linen, pre-heated plates, cast table food warmers, hot towelettes following the meal, attentive service, dinner mints.

After dinner walking about the town of Canterbury at late sunset was a delight. Happy theater goers were just letting out and the pedestrian precinct was luminous. This will be a bit on the short side – I’m soon headed to the train which will take me to the docks. Getting to the train station involved walking about a mile along the top of a 2,000 year old Roman wall.

May you find life large today. Everyone deserves to experience this level of richness. Gratitude comes very easy today.