Talk: City of Angels
Today, back for the first time in months with London Social and Cultural Meetups! This was for a talk entitled City of Angels - about the angels visible in the architecture of the City. My last chance for a daytime event before I restart work.. This was was much closer than yesterday's, anyway, so even though I was rushing a bit, I was in plenty of time, and could take buses. Not only that, but I hardly had to wait between them.. I arrived about six minutes early, and as we gradually gathered at the meeting point, light drizzle fell on us.
Our organiser was last to arrive - we left without one; we didn't know the one person who hadn't shown, they hadn't posted a picture of themselves, or left a message, and it was six minutes after the scheduled meeting time. Fair enough. We followed the organiser round backstreets to the Guildhall Library. I'd never been in here before - and indeed, as I remarked, it's ages since I was even in a library! Brings back nice memories.. anyway, there were a fair number of seats, and we pretty much managed to sit together.
The talk was also streamed online, as it turned out - so the speaker's first greeting was to those online, who apparently numbered 133. And yes, it was really interesting - naturally, you expect lots of angels in public architecture, but it was illuminating to be taken on a tour of some. She started with what she called "Angel Central" - St. Michael's, Cornhill - which is abounding in angels. They're holding up the dome, you might find them at the tops of pillars - and she gave any number of examples of angels in the stained glass windows. Or perhaps you might find standalone statues - or carved pew ends. Different appearances, different colours depicting different grades of angel.
After St. Michael's, she mentioned St. Lawrence Jewry, which I was in so recently - and included some fascinating photos of the bomb damage; it was really devastated. And then there was talk about St. Paul's Cathedral - as she said, she was in no way going to try to describe all the angels there, there were so many! She did pop up a couple of photos of gilded angels, pointing out how the light would catch them..
Lots of other churches were mentioned, but it wasn't all churches - she highlighted a couple of financial buildings, featuring angels over the doors. One sculpture of a wing, on Threadneedle Walk - and a fantastical air vent, designed to look like a pair of wings, and again, catching the light from different angles! Not to mention the angels supporting the symbol of the City, the cross of St. George, in its depiction on pillars and posts. It was lovely to see all the examples - and we weren't too distracted when the laptop battery began to give out, and its owner had to come and resuscitate it! Mind you, with the speaker's soporific voice.. and the dim lighting.. and the peaceful environment.. I nearly nodded off a couple of times. I really need to go to bed for a week..
Fascinating scale models in the lobby, which I only noticed on the way out, as we waited for people to return from the loo:
For post-presentation pubbing, we headed to the nearest Wetherspoon's - which turned out to be The Crosse Keys. I seemed to be the designated giver of directions.. and en route, we passed St. Michael's!
The photo of the angel that looks down on the entrance was one of the first of the talk..
In the pub, one of the group knew about back rooms, where she said there might be space - and they were surely quieter. So we had a look - and lo, found a perfectly sized table.
Where a couple of us ordered on the app - so handy - and I had dinner. They have a different deal every day - today, it was steak. "Gourmet" includes sauce, and you can have both onion rings and chips - it's worth it. It's certainly not the best I've ever had, but at these prices.. and I had two wines. And there was some good chat. Dunno when I'll be back with this group again, but hey, it was a good afternoon.
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