It’s always nice when I get back to the UK from China and I walk down to the paper shop on a Sunday morning. It all seems so lovely and peaceful and civilised and… English.
This is especially true of Harpenden, a typical small affluent town in Hertfordshire with big houses, manicured lawns and gastro-pubs.
I walked down to the paper shop to gorge myself on newspapers and as I approached the church, the bells started up and it was a sound that I had not heard for years.
The church looked beautiful on the crisp winter’s morning and the graveyard well tended and peaceful, old weather worn graves and old yew trees to keep the evil spirits at bay.
I think you have to go away to appreciate the beauty and culture of our own country. Of course the churches themselves are under threat of extinction as congregations die and are not replaced by vigorous young worshipers. I wonder how long the bells will toll from the bell towers of our beautiful churches.
We cannot afford to keep them as decorations for our towns and villages, they need life inside them but I am typical of those who have little interest in worshiping in them.