I went to Stamford today.
Someone has converted an old church with spire into several shops. What gits! I thought. Further down that road was another old stone church with a spire. Round the corner, thirty feet from that, was yet another old stone church. I checked on the map of Stamford and found that there were two more. There's a postcard on sale that has a skyline with four church spires in it. Come on! I thought our town of Newark was doing well with one large church, a castle and two train stations, but this is just showing off.
My brother told me that another church was knocked down in the sixteenth century by King James (or someone). I can imagine the conversation:
Church Builder: You like it?
King James: (exasperatedly) Oh, for God's sake!
Church Builder: There's some space there. We could fit another one in there.
King James: No, no more churches! Give it a rest, for God's sake! Five is more than enough.
What gets me is the two churches that are next to each other. Were there competitions between them? Did they throw stones, and saboutage each other's weddings?
