A quick trip to Barnes..more otters than birds..

Hadn't been to Barnes for a while so nipped up today.  Met Elaine and Bob whom I'd not met before and also other birding friends - nice to meet you all.

Not much about in terms of birds at all... very quiet day.  The otters were about but only saw three of them - don't know where the 4th is...

Decided I'd drop in at Bushy Park but the clouds gathered.  So thought I'd drop into Warnham... however, a long traffic hold up near Dorking due to road works.. took me much longer and then near Warnham on the single carriage way, there'd been an accident and traffic under police control which meant another long delay.    By now it was getting very dull again :(

So a quick stop at Tescos and home I came... bit disappointing really... !

A first visit to Guildford Cathedral

I've lived near Guildford Cathedral for a goodly part of my life.  When I was very young at school, pupils were invited to donate half-a-crown to buy a brick which would bear the pupils name. So somewhere in the cathedral is a brick bearing my original name.  These bricks would be part of the building; still visible on display today are those of the Royal Family... Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Prince Phillip and others.

The Cathedral's architect, Edward Maufe, was appointed in 1933 but the war intervened and building was halted and the existing building was finally consecrated in 1961.

The weather was dreadful, rain, wind and grey, grey grey... so all indoor shots today!  On a better day the views would be great, as the Cathedral is built on the top of a hill!

The interior is quite plain and, to me used to the grandeur of older cathedrals, a bit uninteresting.  The lack of stained-glass windows made a huge difference.

However, you can judge for yourselves..

In the Children's room...