Thursday 24 July 2008

lazing on a sunny afternoon....

I've got a few pictures for you today.



Following on from yesterday's visit to Lincoln Cathedral, this is the view we got from a balcony fairly high up on the west end, just next to the big stained glass window there. From this vantage point you can see all the way down the nave, over the choir screen and down to the east end extension. As you can see, we were really lucky to visit on a day when all of the chairs and pews that usually clutter up the nave of a big church like this had been taken out for some reason. This is how it would have looked in the middle ages, when your average, common-or-garden peasant would have had to stand in the nave looking up at the choir screen towards the altar. There are always three steps up from the nave past the choir screen, and this was supposed to symbolise that the clergy literally existed on a higher plane than their flock. If you look closely at the vaulting on the roof, you might notice that it doesn't quite line up. Our tour guide was convinced that this must have been done deliberately, but I think she's somewhat overestimating the prowess of the builders from about 1000 years ago. York Minster is built on a slight wonk too, and nothing wrong with that. From here, we went up another few flights of narrow stone steps and entered the roof space above the nave itself.

Enough monumental architecture already.



Today I have mostly been watching Nottinghamshire playing Yorkshire in the county championship at Trent Bridge. This competition is pretty poorly attended at the best of times, and a big Test ground like the Bridge is always going to look mostly empty on a day like today, but there were a few hundred people there enjoying the sunshine and watching Notts turn the screw on the Tykes.



...including me.

Let me tell you that three pints, a copy of today's Guardian and a beautiful warm day is a great way to spend a Thursday afternoon. I'm not in the least bit looking forward to going back to work on Monday, I know that much....

Now, look away if you're a bit squeemish, but here's the latest on my eye:



It looks a bit gross at the moment, I know (and if you look really closely, you'll see that the pupil in my right eye is actually a bit oval shaped at the moment). It's not as bad as it looks, I promise you. When I came out of surgery on Monday, the eye was really bloodshot just above the line of my eyelid, where I assume they must have made the incision. Over the last couple of days, this blood has sort of rolled down around my eye to the point where I'm now a little self-conscious when out and about in the street and I'm more than happy to wear a pair of sunglasses. It doesn't hurt or anything, and it should fade over the next couple of days.... but nice, isn't it?

Anyway. C's away tonight with work, so I'm going to put my feet up and catch up on a bit of telly, I think.

"A Mighty Wind" perhaps....?

3 comments:

  1. Eeeek. There is nothing I am more squeamish about than eyes - although I've worn lenses for almost 20 years, I can't bear to see someone else put theirs in or take them out. Weird, no? Hope the vision's settling, and it's all good very soon.

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  2. Good heavens !

    even allowing for the eye, I look like a complete mentalist in that last photo....

    I do apologise.

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  3. I love monumental architecture.

    And your eye...well, I'm sure you're not the only one whose been in that position. But if I ever have that surgery, I think I'll do it in the summer when I can hide behind my giant sunglasses!

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