Slow Saturday in Cambridge

4th March. Today is Saturday. I spent the day around Cambridge looking at old Colleges and churches. So many people who have done amazing things; Eramus, Tyndale, Latimer, Rydley as well as poets like Milton, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Elliot, Byron, Kipling, Pepys, AA Milne (for those who enjoy Pooh - which reminds me of a trick question, 'What is his middle name?' - answer latter), and Tennyson and scientists; Babbage, Darwin, Kelvin, Crick, Hawking and Newton and comedians; Cleese, Idle, Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor so many people have resided here who have gone on to do so many things. Also many died during the two WW's.

I rode out to the American War Cementry in the early morining. They have a memorial strip of water, about 100 metres or more long and at either end a flag pole and cenotaph. They both reflect in the pool of water. It was a really clear, bright morning so I rode out first thing, looking forward to still waters and clear skies to catch the light and reflection. When I got there the water was frozen and covered in ice! Oh well, No reflection. Still in the cenotaph they had a moving mosiac which read something like this, 'They knew not the hour, the day nor the manner of their passing'. So true for all.

The rest of the day was spent tracing the steps of C.S. Lewis. He spent his last 8 years in Cambridge and died the day I was born! Also JFK and Aldous Huxley passed away on the same day. He left Magdalen College Cambridge, slightly jaded. They were biased against his strong Christian beliefs. And although he was a fine scholar in English Literature, he got knocked back a number of times to fill the chair in the faculity. Eventually he was persuaded by J.R.R. Tolkien, his good friend, to apply for the job at Cambridge. He did and got it. He died here. I sat in the chair that he always sat in for chapel.

Also finished the day over the road at The Pickerel, his watering hole, had a quite pint and reflected on the day and life and God. Sat at the window and watched. The river Cam was just off to the right with punts and people. The rugby boys from Magdelene College started coming in after their match. I thought about people and how wonderfully and fearfully we are made. People are the peak of God's creation, beautiful, and great and yet... God created the best and the worst of things in people.