Moments

Ever had a moment or two when you feel as if your conscious awareness of the world around you is somehow clearer than usual?

On the train this morning I finished reading The Map That Changed the World. It's a biography of William Smith, often referred to as 'The father of English geology'. He spent most of his life discovering and researching the underbelly of the English countryside to put together the first map of geological strata. All this at a time when geology didn't exist as a science and his findings contradicted the theological beliefs of how old the Earth is and how it was formed.

In his dotage Smith was part of the team that selected the first source of the stone used to build the Houses of Parliament. I had this in mind just as the train approached Charing Cross.

Looking across the Thames I saw the London Eye in the foreground, the Houses of Parliament in the middle distance and a red double-decker bus crossing Westminster Bridge. A postcard view of London I've seen a thousand times but now I know little more about it I somehow felt a little more comfortable with the city. Weird how something so small had such an impression on me.

Thank you Dr. Smith.