Hey there, how’s it going? Great beard by the way. It is nice to see someone else outside, even if you can’t talk back.
Just kidding, as you can see above I wasn’t the only one outside. This was taken a month back, the two people in the background happy to just walk right by one another and not avoiding contact like, well, the plague.
The statue is a memorial to John Donne, a poet and priest, unveiled in 2012. He was born in 1572 and died in 1631 at the age of 59. I guess for his time he had a good innings. He was Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral and this is the location of his memorial.
I took this photo on a truly gorgeous day. I found a bench to sit on, took a moment and thought about what this cathedral has witnessed over it’s lifetime. This has been the site for St Paul’s Cathedral for over 1,400 years. And looking at St Paul’s Cathedrals website it states the cathedral has been rebuilt five times. This is the current building, over 300 years old and built after the previous one was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. Sir Christopher Wren was the architect for the current building.
That is a heck of a lot of history, and the Great Fire of London was just one of the many ‘sh*t hits the fan’ moments this city has seen. The blitz being another, this building fortunately surviving when others around it crumbled.
And it is still standing tall. It is a shame buildings can’t speak to talk of their stories, but we at least have the written records from the people of the time. And these records show us that life is full of unexpected, tragic events.
But these records also show us that humans persevere, and come out of them too. And everyday we are creating history to look back on, only time will tell what stories will be retold in classrooms a thousand years from now. Will this pandemic be remembered, or will this be a small blip not tracked on future’s radar? What is life changing for us could very well be too insignificant to be told if events ahead of us overshadow it. Yellowstone erupting for example. Not a scenario I want to imagine right now.
Who will be remembered? Will it be the ones we look up to today? Maybe not. Someone that makes wild predictions today might be the most relatable to future generations. Someone we would not expect at all. What musicians and artists, scientists and politicians. I wish I could know.
But this makes life fascinating. Not knowing what life has in store helps me to get out of bed everyday. Provided I have a certain level of optimism of course. Yes I could break my leg today but I could also win the lottery or find the love of my life. The mystery is a motivator.
And although this cathedral has seen many a cloudy day, a blue sky will always return. ‘This too shall pass’ is making the rounds on the internet right now and for good reason. It is great to be reminded that this metaphorical blue sky will return and we shouldn’t look back when we have so much to look forward to.
What are you looking forward to the most when life gets back to normal? Seeing family again, a coffee shop date, having friends round on the weekends? For me it is seeing family and friends again and it not being through a webcam. But I also cannot wait to get out there and practice photography more, hopefully in time for summer.
Have a good day and remember, we are one day closer to being back to normal!
St Paul’s Cathedral information obtained on their site, www.stpauls.co.uk
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak I am somewhat limited as to what I can do in London, but I aim to post as much as I can during this time. I promise to have some great posts coming your way once this is all over as I continue to explore London.
Stay home, stay safe and happy blogging!
Sam
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