Last week veteran BBC cricket commentator, Jonathan Agnew, was reprimanded for not wearing a tie when making a broadcast from the pavilion at Lord’s. This prompted Times journalist and P G Wodehouse Society member, Patrick Kidd, to recall a Wodehouse short story in which Lord Plumpton thinks he is being stung by wasps. His companion tells him;
” No wasps around here, not in the pavilion at Lord’s. You can’t get in unless you are a member.”
Well, this blog has no dress code and is open to anyone who cares to read it. There are not many of you as the blog only started a week ago. (Asking a blogger how many readers he has is like asking a woman her age; you cannot expect a truthful answer.) Truthfully, you are guinea pigs, or would you prefer it if I call you a focus group, and you spend about six minutes per visit.
London at this time of year when the sun shines is heaven but even heaven has nooks that are specially heavenly. The gardens at Fulham Palace are just this; Elysian Fields beside the Fulham Palace Road. The Palace was home to the Bishops of London from about 700 AD until the last Bishop was winkled out in 1973. I am fond of asking what the oldest structure is in London. The Tower of London or the remains of the Roman walls are the answers I usually get, but it is a trick question and the answer is Cleopatra’s Needle on the Embankment; made in Egypt in 1460 BC and brought from Alexandria to London in 1878.
However, beneath Fulham Palace lie the remains of Neolithic and Iron Age settlements giving it a genuine claim to antiquity. The walled garden is fringed by trees and only the tower of a neighbouring church is visible, the flag of St George fluttering nobly aloft. London seems far away. I was there last Saturday to see the superb Globe Theatre production of Much Ado About Nothing. I will be back next week for a picnic listening to jazz.
Jump on a 220 Bus at Hammersmith for a ride to heaven. Even heaven is not perfect. Fulham Palace is below a flight path to Heathrow, super for ‘plane spotting, but rather noisy.
A good idea and a good start. Keep up the good work (and pictures).
Rob
Splendid!
So glad to be part of your readership!
Diccon
I think Leonard said he went to heaven last week – he commented that it was, indeed a tad noisy!
Enjoying the blog!
Thanks, Maddy, and no doubt he mentioned that even in Heaven it rains sometimes.
Very refreshing! Keep it up.
I will try and refresh the parts that only the finest of your vintage ports can reach, Tim.