Tuesday, 8 March 2011

the pictures they tried to ban

Yesterday I travelled by train to London to visit the houses of Parliament. I travelled first class, as it happens, for the first time in my life. Well. you've got to spend your money somehow...
I have to say it was a most satisfying experience. The carriage was almost deserted on both outward and return journeys, so for once the "quiet carriage" concept actually worked. For the most part the loudest noise was the quiet click-clack of a couple of people typing on their laptops, while a lady with a drinks trolley plied us with coffee and snacks every few minutes. Very civilised.

I have been fascinated by the idea of seeing the "wonders of Parliament" since childhood, but it isn't as easy as visiting, say, its next door neighbour, Westminster Abbey. However, as my anarchic tendencies developed, my misgivings about entering the heart of government grew along with them. But my desire to see Westminster Hall remained undimmed. One of the largest wood-built rooms in the world even today, when it was built by William Rufus early in the 12th century it must have seemed an incredible structure. Improved and enlarged by Richard II 200 hundred years later and barely touched since then, it has led something of a charmed life, even avoiding the Luftwaffe bombs that tore through the roof of the adjacent House of Commons and completely flattening it.

Even today, it has lost little of its unique atmosphere. The great hall where Thomas More and King Charles I were convicted of treason and sentenced to death, where throughout the centuries London's wheeler-dealers met to shmooze and fix, it is still there, still buzzing with activity and business. A truly wonderful experience for me, far excelling the lesser delights of the Houses of Lords and Commons, with their high-kitsch, neo-Gothic adornment. I got some photos, despite invoking the ire of the Sergeant-at-Arms, who fortunately did not demand I hand over my SD card. Phew!

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