February--Rains and Trains

The heavy winter rains continued through about the first three weeks of February, leaving many places in southwest England flooded and even the Thames west of London above its banks. Since then the weather has lightened and the floods are beginning to subside. The severe winter rains have even sparked political upheaval of sorts, people wanting to blame someone for not being prepared.

We have been able to visit bishops training or welfare council meetings in three more stakes during February: Maidstone, Reading, and Bristol. For each one we had to take a bus, the subway, a train, and a taxi to get to the stake center. The stake presidents always arranged for us to be taken back to the train station after the meetings. On the way to Bristol, we didn't get away from the Employment Centre until after 2:00; our train was at 3:00. Imagine two old people trotting the length of the platform to get to our assigned car, the last one, and stepping in with just one minute to spare! A couple of trips, we caught the last train back to London, sometimes arriving at our flat as late as 12:30 am. On the last trip, as we came up out of the underground, they announced the closing of service; we were very grateful to get there in time to use the underground. We had planned an alternative means of travel, using "night busses," but they would have take a lot longer. We made these trips after serving at the Employment Resource Centre, which gave us some 11- and 13-hour days. We feel like we have been very blessed to do this travel, both with our scheduling and with our personal stamina. Bristol is on the river Avon:

Bristol Temple Meads Train Station, formerly Temple Church

At these meetings, we train bishops and stake presidents on employment issues, including the use of ldsjobs.org. We have been very well-received and they seem very glad to get the information. This has been one of the highlights of our mission. We are so impressed with the dedication and goodness of these brethren. After traveling through the hubbub and smoke, it has seemed so good just to arrive at an LDS chapel and feel the comfort and peace that is there.

At the Visitors Centre in the Hyde Park Chapel, there was a gap between missionary couples departing and arriving, so we were asked to "mind the gap." (This is what the conductor always says when the train or underground stops: "Mind the gap between the train and the platform.")  This made for a few more 11-hour days, serving at both the Visitors Centre and the Employment Centre, but it was a nice change.

While walking down the hall at the Maidstone Stake Centre, we saw the picture of one of our granddaughter Sarah's missionary companions in Hong Kong. She has returned home to London and we got her contact information from her bishop in the meeting. We have been able to meet with her, which was a sweet experience.

And, speaking of Sarah, she married her best friend, Jacob Barrows, on February 15 in the Spokane Temple. We got to Skype with them on Valentine's Day and through pictures and emails, got in on a lot of the festivities. Modern technology is indeed a blessing to missionaries and their families!

In our assignment to the Ilford Ward, we have been asked to help teach the Gospel Essentials class. We were also asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting there. We also spoke in a ward conference, by invitation of the stake presidency.

Kaye was delighted to receive cards via email from some of the sisters in our home ward, Edgemont Second, for Valentine's Day. Bless Kathleen Lindsay for knowing just when Kaye needed a lift! And bless Joyce Madsen for sending regular newsy letters to keep us up to date with the Ward. Thanks to all friends and family who have sent messages; they are much appreciated!

We have continued to use p-days to see all we can of London. It is so fun to see places we have heard of all our lives. One Saturday we toured the Houses of Parliament. It was fascinating; our guide was excellent and told us all about it with great humor and a few political asides. It was originally a palace, the residence of the kings from 1089 until the time of Henry VIII. We learned that if someone wants to visit with his MP, he makes a request and the MP is required by law to meet him in the lobby. (This is where the verb "lobby" comes from!)

View of the Parliament building

Then we walked across the street and took an audio tour of Westminster Abbey. It is a magnificent historical place, dating from the 11th Century. It has crowds of memorial statues and many tombs of the deceased: monarchs Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Edward the Confessor, etc. In Poets' Corner there are memorials or tombs of Shakespeare, Chaucer, Jane Austen, the three Bronte sisters, Dickens, Tennyson, Handel, Isaac Newton and his teacher, Isaac Barrow, Sir Laurence Olivier, Wordsworth, Longfellow, and many others. We stayed for Evensong. The music of the men and boys choir and the organ music was beautiful. We had front row seats, sitting not far from the high altar where the coronation of Elizabeth II and many others took place. The congregation were given programs to follow and were expected to join in with certain words, including the Lord's Prayer and the Apolstol's Creed. (We skipped some of the words.) A couple of times, a priest came in and gave a short lesson based on a passage from the Bible.

Westminster Abbey

We were able to go on one of the walks from the BYU London Semester Abroad book Kaylene and Sarah gave us. We took the walk through "The City," the part of London that was the old Roman Londinium. It used to be the main market--we saw Milk Street, Bread Street, Wood Street, Threadneedle, and Poultry. Milton was born on Bread Street and Sir Thomas More was born on Milk Street. The main street, Cheapside, was the scene of jousting in medieval times. It became the financial center of London and is now a major financial center in the world.

Spire of St Mary le Bow

Inside St Mary le Bow

We saw St. Mary le Bow, rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the great fire of 1666; the crypt dates from about 1050. The church is famous because anyone born within the sound of "Bow Bells" is a genuine Cockney. We visited several old churches; this has become one of our favorite things to do. We went past some interesting buildings:

Magistrate's Court

Mansion House, when the Lord Mayor of London lives

The Bank of England

The Royal Eschange, created 1565

The modern part of Lloyd's of London

The old part of Lloyd's of London is just right of the modern part.

Swiss Reinsurance Tower, "the Gherkin"

 
Two views of Minster Court, seen in the background first, closeup second. We kept seeing the top of a fascinating building from different locations; we couldn't tell if it was old or new. It is a combination of Gothic, Romanesque, and Modern architecture, headquarters of the London Underwriting Centre, built in 1999. It was used for the office building of Cruella de Vil in the remake of 101 Dalmations.

Down by the Thames, we saw the old Billingsgate Market, the central fish market in London from 1287 to 1982. The weather vanes on the building are fish.

This is the side facing the Thames.

On another p-day, we walked to Holland Park, another walk in the BYU book. Holland Park is a lot different from the other large parks we've seen, like Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which are mostly open grass and trees. It has smaller enclosed spaces with benches inviting you to stop and read or ponder. Especially beautiful was the Kyoto Peace Garden, elegantly and serenely inviting and peaceful.

On the way to Holland Park, we passed a statue of St. Volodymyr, the patron saint of Ukraine. Since the Ukraine uprising had been going on all week, there were many flowers and candles around the statue, and pictures of the recent martyrs were posted on the wall behind it. It was a touching scene.

Many of the missionary couples have gone to plays in London, so we took one of their recommendations and chose "Wicked." We went to the Apollo Victoria Theatre Monday afternoon to enquire about tickets. We got especially good seats, since it was the day of the performance, and even a senior discount. We went back that evening and saw the production, which was excellent in every way--the set, the acting, the singing, the costumes, everything--brilliant!  (Brits say "brilliant" where we would say "awesome;" we hear it everywhere.)

In this part of town, almost every block of flats has planter boxes on the window sills or especially on the fences. They are gorgeous. They change the flowers with the seasons and, since the temperature stays above freezing, they bloom all winter.

Fall

Winter

Spring

Quite often, between 7 and 8 am, we hear the clopping of horses' hooves on our street. We like to rush to the window to watch them. They are the Royal Horse Guards; we've also heard them called the Household Cavalry.

We see advertising for the Book of Mormon all the time; unfortunately, it is for the play.  : (