Hardy Tree

O passenger, pray list and catch
Our sighs and piteous groans,
Half-stifled in this jumbled patch
Of wretched memorial stones.

One could not really describe Thomas Hardy's novels as happy and here may be the root of his gloom, as well as his recurrent theme of progress riding roughshod over tradition.

Walk a little way up the road from the bustle of the stations of Kings Cross/St Pancras and you come to an oasis of green calm - Pancras Garden. The little church of Old St Pancras has a long history and is surrounded by what used to be the churchyard, now a lovely, peaceful garden to walk in. A few tombstones and monuments remain . . . and Hardy's Tree.

Hardy trained as an architect at King's College and was apprenticed to Arthur Blomfield between 1862 and 1867, a time when railway networks were expanding rapidly. To make way for an extension of the Midland Railway to its new terminus at Kings Cross, Bloomfield was commissioned to supervise the exhumation of human remains and the dismantling of tombs in the Pancras churchyard. Hardy was given the task of overseeing this work. It surely left a deep impression on him. He wrote a poem: 'The Levelled Churchyard', almost certainly based on this experience.

The physical remains were relocated, but some of the headstones were stacked around an ash tree and this is what 'Hardy's Tree' looks like now, with the tree and other vegetation growing around the stones. Quite bizarre.

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Gordon, with our daughter and son-in law, is spending the day (and tomorrow) at Twickenham watching Rugby Sevens - a birthday present from last year from them. I was left to wander and wonder in London - bliss. And no shops were involved!

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Hockney last night was brilliant. We all thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition and spent a lot longer there than we thought we would. Having been, over many years, surrounded by his pictures, every time I've been to Salts Mill, I thought I knew his work - I did not. This was a fabulous collection from all stages of his artistic career and we just stood and stared at one piece and then another. At the end, I was mesmerised by watching iPad pieces actually taking shape and wanted to bottle themup and send them to 'NannaK'!
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2306224996596319706