December 30, 2024

Dateline London and York, England

For those of you keeping score, I decided on the quick side trip to York over the RSC matinee today. (It was A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I have seen three professional productions in the last two years, directed it and seen this RSC production on video so I opted for the less familiar). This meant getting up before dawn (at these northern latitudes, dawn isn’t until about 8 AM so it wasn’t all that early), high tailing it down to Kings Cross Station and boarding a high speed non-stop to York. (It was travelling on to Edinburgh and other points north – some sort of descendant of the Flying Scotsman I suppose – and if Skimbleshanks were on board, he did not make himself known although the terrier across the aisle and two absolutely adorable babies did). Two hours of cutting across the green fields of northeastern England past small country towns with their high streets and vaguely Norman looking churches at one end and out of the fogs of London and into relatively sunny weather.

York was achieved without incident. It was the second most important city in medieval England after London but, unlike London, seems to have been left rather behind by the modern world. The central city is still a warren of ancient streets running all higgledy-piggledy with a large number of early buildings still intact and still functioning as pubs and shops. Dominating it all is York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe with the two bell towers in front and an enormous central tower rising two hundred and some feet from where the nave, apse, and transepts all meet. I did not pay the extra six pounds to climb to the top. I’ve been up plenty of medieval staircases in my day and adding one more to the list did not strike me as a good idea with my aging knees. I did, however, along with Bill McMullen and Kathy McMullen take the guided tour where we were fed little tidbits of a millennium or so of York history. Deep in the catacombs, there are still extant pieces of Roman foundation and masonry from when it was the military outpost of Eboracum in the first few centuries CE.

I love gothic cathedrals. The height, the stained glass, the majesty, the knowing that as they usually took several centuries to complete that the majority of the artisans and engineers involved never saw the building complete but continued on with their jobs anyway through much more turbulent times and politics than we experience. Human beings of the last 10,000 years are just as smart as we are and just as resourceful and just as ingenious. They may not have had access to modern technology and tools but they were able to achieve the results they wanted. York Minster was struck by lighting in 1984 and a devastating fire severely damaged the south transept. The displays showing the damage and how it was repaired were fascinating – shades of Notre Dame. I suppose the closest thing we have to a gothic cathedral build is Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. It was begun in 1882 and is still being constructed. I was last there in 2002 and recent pictures show a lot of additions since I last saw it. Recent estimates place completion around 2032 so maybe within my lifetime.

After cathedral gazing, a walk around the old city through the various market squares and the narrow little street known as The Shambles which has a number of Tudor buildings with the upper floor overhangs and which is obviously the model for Diagon Alley. Then a pub lunch of fish and chips. More walking past the former site of the castle (mostly gone other than a large drum tower) before heading back to the train for London.. The journey back was uneventful. I snoozed for most of it…

For entertainment this evening, we went full tourist and went to see The Mousetrap (now in it’s 73rd year). I’ve seen The Mousetrap numerous times in both amateur and professional productions but have never, despite six or seven trips to London over the last forty years taken in the original production that continues to sell out as an icon of London theater. We were in the upper circle (very steep and inadequate leg room) and therefore very much looking down on the proceedings. What can I say? Revelatory theater it ain’t but it’s still a smashing good time and it was fun hearing gasps in the audience at the denouement from people who obviously had no idea of the plot twists.

While on the train to York, I placed a little quip in this forum regarding the need for a concert to memorialize Jimmy Carter and when that might be scheduled. It wasn’t a wholly original idea but I found it funny. It was cross posted to Threads where it has gone viral with over 10,000 views and hundreds of comments and repostings. I’ve never gone viral before. I expect the trolls will come out of the woodwork tomorrow. Now if only my virus writings would go viral and people would buy some more books. (Speaking of which, there are announcements coming in that department but I won’t make them until all the ducks are in a row – and as my ducks seem to wander off into all sorts of places, that may be a while).

Tomorrow is relatively unscheduled other than a New Years Eve party so I have no idea what I’ll get into yet. Stay tuned.