Need To Get Busy

It isn't hard to put things away in drawers, hang clothes in wardrobes and return books to bookshelves, merely unnatural, counterintuitive- or something along those lines. We have a man coming this morning to value the house for probate- and thinking about this has opened my eyes to how untidy the place is- with clutter on every available surface. This must change, will change, is going to change in the next couple of hours...

The answer to what we were going to do yesterday was drive 25 miles across the county to pick up a box of conserves we'd ordered from a farm shop. The farm shop sat at the end of a long, pitted track that we found it hard to believe led anywhere but a field. Bumping along it was an adventure. At the end there was a rickety old farmhouse, barns, cows, chickens, dogs- and I think I saw a pig. It was a very nice farm shop- and one that not only stocked home-killed meat but also a surprisingly large range of vegan products. We picked up our box- and added £30 worth of other stuff to it. On the way home we stopped at a church I had visited before but on a very dark day which had rendered photography impracticable. This time I got all the pictures I wanted.

St Andrew And St Mary The Virgin, Fletching

This is the church I visited yesterday- St Andrew and St Mary the Virgin, Fletching: The dedication is unusual. Generally the Virgin Mary takes precedence over every other member of the heavenly host.

I caught it in a rare interval of sunshine. Sometimes one gets the breaks.

If the church has an international reputation it's because in contains the mortal remains of the historian Edward Gibbon. He's buried in another person's family vault. The owner of the vault was a great friend and Gibbon was a great man and when he died whilst on a visit they were delighted to extend his stay into eternity. Did the Abbey want him? Did St Paul's? Well, they can't have him!

This isn't Gibbon- wrong period- but a man called Leche- who was a person of fame and substance in his generation. The tomb isn't of the finest quality and his effigy is more than a a little stiff- but the way the shadows fall in this particular image make him look almost human. I love his collar, though I'd hate to have to wear it.