Poetry is memorable speech

ST LUKE'S: Finally visited Westminster Abbey last night. They were hosting a reading to celebrate the centenary of Auden's birth. As pleasent as it was to sit in Poet's Corner and listen to the well recited versions of some of the poet's most famous works, the acoustics of the space meant that echoes inevitably swallowed up the succeeding syllables in the lines making them unintelligible for large parts of the evening. But then you can't pass up a free beer and it mean I got to see the floor tiles and tombs of Chaucer, Byron, Shelly, Southey and the rest.

On the way out I noticed the tiles for various prime ministers including Clement Atlee and Lloyd George. I was thinking to myself "Gee, Tony... if only Iraq hadn't been a complete and utter clusterfuck you might have ended up here." Then I saw Neville Chamberlain.