OUTSHINED

i'm very lucky in my job that i get to travel around a lot and often get the opportunity to stop by the side of the road for a quick five minutes to take in the sights and sounds of the world.

Today i was up and around old haunts, places i haven't been for the best part of ten years, and as i was driving past this church i thought i'd pop in and take in the atmosphere.

I love countryside churches, they have a sense of local history and community about them, often tucked away in a lovely picturesque setting and emanating a real feeling of warmth and timelessness about them, sometimes you can trace whole generations of families from the names on the gravestones or the names in the parish register or visitors book.

I especially like the stained glass windows, i love the artistry and the craft that goes along with them and i wonder about the craftsmen who created them, exraordinary skill and guile that i don'y possess.

I don't have a religion myself (humanist) but if my life had gone a different way this is the church that the present Mrs Richardson and myself would've got married in, and i could see it being a village i could have lived and raised a family in, and finally a churchyard i could've been buried in,

a simple life, would've done for me..

and in the words of the great Dave Allen, "Goodnight and may your God go with you"