Before I forget what happened on days 1 1/2

     In this blog, my ambition is to discuss what I personally learn about worship music in church, and the church's place in the world, in the context of St. Mark's Evensong choir's tour of England in July 2018. I'll update with stories and some pictures, and recount for those of you who are interested in following.
     This entry, however, will be less editorial, and more fact-based.

     Yesterday morning, all gathered at St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, wearing our matching dubiously-sized enormous purple polos. We mourned the loss of our figure, as it fell victim to American clothes sizing. A tour bus drove us to the airport, where we boarded a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, complete with a cocktail lounge, screens on every seat, and mood lighting. The flight was relatively uneventful. There was a general trend present of watching movies that were supposed to delight, only to be woefully disappointed when they turned out to be stinkers.
     This morning, at roughly midnight Seattle time, we touched down at London's Heathrow Airport. We waited in line for customs for about an hour, high-fiving each other in a range of ways as the queue crossed back on itself ten times. We boarded another bus, and went to St. Albans.
     St. Albans is a quaint town, just a few Kilometers NE of downtown London. Immediately charmed were we all by the dizzyingly adorable scale and nature of every aspect of the town. We attended Mattins service at the Cathedral of St. Albans, which professes to be the longest continuously operating center of worship in the United Kingdom. Woah! The current background image for this blog is a shot of this cathedral.
     After this quick stop, we boarded up in out bus again to head toward Ely, which is where I now write, lofted in a hotel room overlooking the main drag. As we drove into Ely, we were greeted by a local music festival with live music, and cathedral visitors walking around.

All's well so far, and it's fun to be in a constant flood of brand new images and concepts for which my mind have little context to compartmentalize.