As a family we are just back from a short trip to London. We’ve tried to pack us much as we can into two days, and as we headed home on the train late yesterday afternoon all were exhausted but happy.

Much of what we have seen has been from the top of a bus this time, although we did see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, the Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium and the inside of Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Abbey was amazing in side, and definitely worth the visit. As an early teen attending a London suburb school I had the opportunity to sing there one Christmas with the school choir, but I had forgotten, or maybe had never taken in, the size or extent of the decoration around the building.

I know others complain about the entrance charges to historic places of worship, and while I wonder at the amount of them, I do recognise that it is one way of recouping many of the costs of up-keep, maintenance and daily running costs.

My gripe is instead with the increasing desire in historic sites to herd people around in the same direction with recorded guided tours. I have two complaints. One is that what interests one person about a building may not be the intrigue for another. Some of us like to start at the west of a building ( even if we came in a different door) and take in the design that the architect intended as the first view of their understanding of the wonder of God expressed within the architecture.

Then secondly, I’m not keen on recorded tours. I won’t take away from the fact that they relay historical information in an easy format for many people. What I find frustrating is that you feel compelled to listen to the whole thing, and rather than enjoy the moment have to enjoy someone else’s key points. In foreign countries, the translated guide is a God-send, but at home I want to be able to wander freely and decide which bits of our country’s history will meet my quest for knowledge.

Of course I know I don’t have to take the guide, so I didn’t. The rest of my companions did. We joined the herd, and I know I haven’t appreciated the wonder of the vision from the West door, having entered in the north and immediately entered the Quire.

(photo from Wikipedia)