Two sides to every story

I don't want to write about Katrina nor about Cindy Sheehan. There are much better blogs than mine that are inundated with posts and comments about them; so no politics from me.

Instead I want to talk about the wonderful evening that Krip and I had on Saturday night. We decided to forgo the usual visit to our local pub for a night out of dining and a show. The dinner was fabulous and the show, one of the best I've ever seen.

Before I go into the entertainment, let me give you a backdrop of where we went. I don't know if anyone knows where Rochester in Kent is, or anything about the City of Rochester. However, within this small city, there is the second oldest cathedral in all of England.



Rochester Cathedral is England'’s second oldest cathedral. It was established in 604AD, and the present building was started in 1080 by King William's architect, Bishop Gundulf, and consecrated in 1130.
There was a castle at Rochester by the time The Doomsday Book was compiled in 1086 but no trace of this structure now survives. The bailey wall that exists today was built in 1088 for William II by Gundulf, the bishop of Rochester. It cost £60. In 1127, Henry I gave custody of the castle to the Archbishop of Canterbury, William de Corbeil. The Archbishop built the huge central keep which still dominates the view of the city from the river. Standing 34.5 metres high, with walls up to 3.5 metres thick, it is the tallest Norman keep in the country.

So these are just two places in Rochester that makes this small city special. I think it's a wonderful place. Anyway, after dinner we decided to take in the sound and light show that was being encompassed by both the cathedral and the castle keep. It was called Son et Lumiere. It was spectacular!


The lasers and sounds whipped between the cathedral and keep, keeping us all mesmerized for a full twenty minutes. It took you back to a time when the earth must have been flooded with the blood of soldiers in the castle and the martyred in the church as well. The event explored the often volatile relationship between the church and the crown. The main elements included the great siege of 1215, and the martyrdom of the two Bishops of Rochester in the Sixteenth Century.

It was a great night out and one that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

Later in bed, drifting off to sleep, I thought about the ghosts that must haunt that area after dark and when everyone was gone. I wondered if more were awakened due to the laser shows. Did it remind the ghosts of battles past. Did the retelling of what happened so long ago haunt them?