Before the Rain

Ok I've made it back to work.

I thought about getting the underground today but as it was bright and as it was due to rain later I walked. Yes I'm crazy.

St Pauls was highlighted against the sky so it had to be the blip.

Go large to see the seagulls

Some information about the cathedral:

After the Great Fire of London in 1666 Sir Christopher Wren was put in charge of designing over fifty City Churchs - I've blipped some of them.

The task of rebuilding St Pauls was assigned to him in 1669.

After the fire the ruins were originally thought to be rebuildable but in the early 1670s it was demolished.

St Paul's went through five general stages of design. The first survives only in the form of a part of a model and a single drawing. The scheme (usually called the First Model Design) appears to have consisted of a round domed entrance vestibule (possibly based on the Pantheon in Rome) and a rectangular basilica behind containing the choir. It was rejected because it was not thought "stately enough"Wren's second design was a Greek cross, which was considered to be too radical by his critics.

Each design was rejected. The final design was not approved but Wren took full advantage of the permission received from the king to make "ornamental changes" to the submitted design.

The "topping out" of the cathedral (when the final stone was placed on the lantern) took place in October 1708 and the cathedral was declared officially complete by Parliament on 25 December 1711 (Christmas Day).


The things that made me smile:
I met a chum from the choir on the going home train. He shared with me the story of their new dog. I knew that he and his wife were jolly nice people but this story made me realise how extra nice they are.

When they were on holiday in Spain they were adopted by a dog. They tried to find someone to look after him but eventually decided to adopt him.

They have successfully brought him back. Now you don't get much nicer than that.

Exercise:
Walked across London

PS Mr F ruined the venison sausage casserole by over heating it - what a waste. He meant well

PPS Its good to be able to blip London again

PPS Thank you for all the well wishes while I was ill - I'll try not to do it again