It’s Music Day! Completely unplanned, but not surprising at all. (And it’s going to be a long one!)

I started my Sunday like most of my Sundays — at church!

I stopped at a great café on Clink Street and had a chat with the friendly barista, and then headed over to the cathedral a bit early so I could hear the (live) bell ringing.

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Full boys2men choir and a terrific organ, and some rather modern music. I was pleased to hear that rather than a blasty voluntary/prelude, James the organist played a quiet meditation that led into the service. (I do the same. For sure, it’s entirely possible that I absorbed this idea without noticing it, rather than coming up with it by myself.) At any rate, I like it. A bit more modern and sensible than trumpets blasting while people are trying to get in the frame of mind for a church service.

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After taking in the service, I proceeded to be their ideal customer in the cathedral gift shop.

There was a ceremony on London Bridge after the service today, so the place was lousy with bishops. Bishops here, bishops there, bishops everywhere. I forget what they were blessing, but the head of the Watermen‘s Guild was there wearing a big red cape with fur and shiny things on it.

I got back to the hotel about 1:30 and rested a bit, then headed back out at 3pm to visit and play Henry, the little pipe organ at London Bridge Station. (We’re old friends.) Henry is inside, but also kind of outside. So please forgive the clinks and clanks in my performance — it was probably about 40°F, my hands were freezing, Henry was feeling the cold (way out of tune), and I was wearing winter clonky shoes playing the pedals. I was shocked when I looked over at the phone and realized I’d been playing for 25 minutes! Here’s just a minute of it. Apologies to the folks who have heard me play this JC Bach thing 1000 times before.

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Finished the day around 4:30 at my favorite burger place (for the third time), directly across from the hotel.

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When I was feeling so poorly that first day and a half, I’d completely forgotten about jet lag. I’m used to feeling poorly if I’ve done much of anything at all, so it didn’t strike me as particularly odd. So I get a half-credit back. We’ll attribute 50% of it to jet lag. =)

That said, by the end of the second day, I was really feeling pretty good. Today, I feel great and have done quite a bit. I’d go so far as to say I haven’t felt this well in months, if not a few years. Of course, I’m in an ideal situation. I can rest as much as I like, go to bed at 8 o’clock, and sleep for 12 hours. All this on top of being in an atmosphere I love and having no responsibilities whatsoever.

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Here’s a picture of the super corny/gory The Clink Prison Museum. (“Free ‘behind bars’ photo with every admission!”) As I said, I’m not going in. But it makes for a decent photo.

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