Peterborough is synonymous with two things. One, its Passport Office: time was when it was the only place in the UK that issued passports and would even process them in person if you fetched up at their offices (thus saving countless trips and holidays from being cancelled due to lapsed documents). Secondly, its catherdral. John Betjeman one said it was the finest cathedral outside of London; I think he was right.
I took a punt yesterday and bought a train ticket to Peterborough. Armed with nothing more than my camera, a good book and a tube of factor 50 I jumped on the 8:41. An hour later I disgorged at Peterborough and immediately went in search of breakfast. I needed coffee and nosebag. From my booth in the Westgate Grill I mapped out what you could loosely call an itinerary. It included a lido, a couple of bridges, a museum and gallery, some street art, a cathedral (obviously), a sculpture, art deco architecture, and a hostelry or two along the way.(Maybe it was because of the pubs that I only spotted one of the three Antony Gormleys!)
So I'll start with the cathedral - the early Gothic architecture speaks for itself; construction began in 1118 and took over a century to build. It's where Mary Queen of Scots was originally interred before the body snatchers moved her to Westminster Abbey. I was also fascinated by the names of the city's previous bishops. Tell me that Mandrel Creighton, Edward Carr Glynn, Frank Theodore Woods, Douglas Russell Feaver and William John Westwood weren't also members of Caravan between 1971 & 1976.
Gormley #1. There are three apparently, the other two are (hiding) in Cathrdral Square. I'll get 'em next time.
Today's blog post title comes from Paul McCartney. One of the exhibitions showing at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery was the work of Jeff Cummins whose artwork and designs adorned countless album sleeves and book dust jackets. It's his painting of Wings that Macca used as the gatefold for his triple live extravaganza Wings Over America. I remember reading the review in Sounds when it came out and the writer made a big thing out of the fact that in the song Let 'Em In Paul sings 'do me a flavour' instead of 'do me a favour' - they were simpler times.
The Lido is a thing of beauty. Built in the Hacienda style there's not may of these left in the country.
Bridges; bridges that go over rivers, bridges that go over railway lines, bridges that go over roads.
And I kept seeing Daleks everywhere; most unnerving, I can tell you.
Travelogue over. Here's Macca with that rehearsed blooper (1:03).
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