Former Glories

After ruining my day by attending the People's Vote demonstration in Parliament Square the other day, I wandered home, wondering how long the United Kingdom's journey back to sanity will take, (if it ever happens). As I had to drop into a police station, (long, not very reassuring story - trying to report something to the UK police that doesn't involve any form of identity politics and doesn't constitute a hate crime is very close to impossible), I ended up walking through Lambeth, which is an odd mixture of recent buildings, mostly made from glass - the material of choice for those who, unable to create beauty themselves, hope the reflections of the beautiful buildings around theirs, seen in their uninspired glass facades, will fool passers-by - and the occasional old, lovely one. 

Sadly, the old, lovely ones, are actually very occasional but each one that appeared raised my spirits. Among them was a new discovery for me; it stands on the corner of Lambeth High Street, and I was touched by the care that someone at some time had lavished on the decorative features of the building. 

In an attempt to think positive, I quashed the melancholy thought that, even if anyone was prepared to build such buildings now, there are probably very few people who could provide the craftsmanship to achieve their vision, and instead took a small delight in examining the variety of ways in which the designers had hoped to please the eyes of passers-by: