This was one of our quickest journeys going directly from Brighton via our stop East Croydon to Saint Albans , fast from St. Pancras. It was 49 minutes in total; the train whizzed by the countryside. So, (roll of drums) here is the man(above) who gave his name to the city.

Francoise by a sign of an exceedingly short row

St.Albans is an incredibly sophisticated town that combines the ancient with the modern. The market according to Saint Albans City and District Council been at the heart of Saint Albans since they were established in 860 by Abbot Wulsin.

The Market trading tradition stretches back further in the forum of Roman Verulamium and back to 20 BCE at the even earlier catevelonian settlement of vermein. Adjacent to the market is a very community minded friendly Museum and art gallery with a coffee shop in what used to be a court. You can even see where the guilty ones were sent down and held.

There was a Verulamium Museum which we did not have time to visit, a lake and a lovely walk in an area that used to be part of the grounds of the cathedral. Choose your day and have a lovely time. We found the people very friendly and cool though we did notice that in some of the coffee bars people were using them as offices and sitting there for hours after buying just one cup of coffee. We could not find seats at one of them so feel this is not very fair on the proprietors who are trying to make money.

St Albans  it’s famous for its organ festivals. They have recitals from time to time and today was the day for a recital by Lucy Morrell, organist and head of academic music at Dulwich College which is in London where coincidentally my father went to school. We had a fairly conservative program of Bach, Schumann, Mendelsson and finally Samuel Coleridge Taylor. It’s a sort of informal welcoming place where you can walk around the church while a recital is going on and nobody seems to mind. The recital itself lasted from 12:30 to 105 pm and that was about right.

The notes which are normally given out with recitals were written by one Tom Winpenny and they were so good and well prepared that I had to seek him out and congratulate him on the quality the like of which I have never seen before. The individual pieces were described with great authority and there was some considerable space given to the organist, about her career and so on. I find the Cathedral a exceptionally eclectic and open place where there is  respectful worship, a very nice cafe for people to relax and be themselves and meet their friends, a very good bookstore, and at the time a photographic art exhibition. Well done everyone.

Donation stations were placed discreetly around the cathedral. I make it my habit to look at the effectiveness of gadgets of all types and this one was very easy and intuitive. You press on the 10 pounds to change the amount and you can slide your finger up and down which moves the amount by either one pound down or one pound up.

I’m not sure about the sunglasses but this is an excellent and positive invitation to people to become involved. I was so convinced of this one that had I lived in the area I would certainly have been honored and privileged to be part of this group