Fragments of colour

As I was in Winchester today (yes, buying clothes as mine are all either a) dirty or b) stuck in the broken washing machine) I thought I'd get some more value out of my season ticket and blip in the cathedral. Especially as they've just announced the opening of a £19m appeal to tidy up the fally-downy bits and improve 'visitor experience'. I suppose you could argue about whether 've' should really be the focus of so much church activity, but it's a brave undertaking and I guess we should be grateful for the care.

What I went for was colour - and little bits, not grand sweeps of architecture, though I did get a few of those and nearly blipped one because it was so fetching in the sunlight. So I looked at the great West Window, smashed in the Reformation, saved in pieces by the people of Winchester and put back higgedly and anyhow, and I looked at the Russian icons given to the C of E in 1996 and I looked at candles and inscriptions. In the end this gets my vote because I like the fragmented message - portenteous but meaningless without the rest of its content, like a sermon you might have sat through as a child..

So that's me for today. Looking forward to my glass of wine now (aren't we all?)