To St Albans, where my cousin Jon (who is a very talented printmaker) had some works on show at The Collective Gallery (scroll through the link for one of his). Lunch first with him, his son Alex and Alex's wife Ella - who both work for ShedKM, which does some terrific architectural projects (I'm showing off the family, today).
And then I was scurrying back to the station, with every intention of making more headway on the dreadfully uphill work of clearing out the garage, and realised that St Albans Cathedral - usually called the Abbey - was on my way - I hadn't been there since maybe 1985 or 6. Essentially it hadn't changed much, though the Welcome Centre certainly made it snazzier - it's one of those buildings that's a complete patchwork of styles. It has the longest nave in England, with essentially 11th century architecture at one end, and what looks like a Victorian parish church at the other; it's the oldest continuous site of Christian worship in England - built on the site where Britain's first Christian martyr had his head chopped off (according to St Bede). I wish it hadn't been so chill and grey - it's a lovely setting (not that I suppose St Alban took that in, particularly) and grounds.
And then - genuinely on my way to the station - here's a pub named after Garibaldi, who supposedly stayed here (not, probably, in the pub) when he was in exile.
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