online: 17 june 2011
modified: 11, 12, 17 june 2011

2 june 2011 beneath tall trees


a city square

...sitting (as one of many) in a Georgian square beneath tall plane trees (planted in the 18th century)... and surrounded by sounds of taxis and other cars that circulate continuously... a sound too loud and too hectic for ease of mind... yet tolerated or even enjoyed by many this summer evening...

...among the cars parked around the edge of the square are three new electric cars (resembling jeep-like toys for grown-ups or even children)... each is connected to a public battery-charging point (a thing i didn't know existed yet)... and someone tells me they are among the first 100 of this design in London... and they are part of the launch... (and also part of a long-awaited automatic traffic system that i envisaged long ago... which seems to be appearing bit-by-bit in unexpected forms and ways)...

...a small police vehicle with a loud siren rushes along one side of the square and disappears into the surrounding streets... where its sound fades slowly into the background roar of all the other vehicles...

...an hour or two ago i visited an exhibition of churches and other buildings designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando... pure forms... intended to arouse such thoughts or experiences as 'peace' or 'silence'... and with some similarities to the church by le Corbusier at Ronchamp ...

...Tadeo Ando's proposal for the site of the twin towers of the world trade centre (destroyed by the attack of 9 september 2001) is a low dome (200 metres across and a few metres high) set on the ground... and of a radius mathematically related to the equatorial radius of the earth... 'as a tomb for the repose of souls'... or 'as a gentle swelling of the earth'... (link to the ground zero project)...

... ...he hopes that the memory of this place will be passed on to the future and 'will not once again be engulfed by the economic tide'...

... after visiting the exhibition i found nearby the 'Farm Street Church' (the mother church of the Jesuits in Britain)... a hushed and silent neo-gothic interior decorated by indescribably detailed images of biblical figures and crucifixes and such... and a few people at prayer... another world indeed but presenting itself as reality...

...from the plentiful supply of Jesuit literature (more intelligent, it seemed to me, than that in other churches) i chose a pastoral letter from the Catholic Bishops' Conference on the new translation of the Roman Missal (text of the Mass?)... the main point of the letter is to assure Catholics that 'the Mass will remain the same but parts of it will sound different'...

...and as i copied out those words a small parachute-like seed from one of the plane trees high above descended onto my sleeve... but no sign as yet of any insects... on this lawn of ancient trees and surrounded by never-ending traffic outside the railings... it's hard to believe that any nightingale will sing here now... (for yes this is the Berkeley Square of the one-time popular song)... but perhaps the nightingale will be heard again when all the city vehicles are electric?...






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