Milton Keynes

One of the very few designed towns in Britain is Milton Keynes. What I mean is that people planned this town from its beginnings as an 'overspill town' for Londoners. It didn't grow gradually, as most other towns and cities in the UK, over many centuries or even milennia. It was planned and built in the 1960's.

Most towns in Britain follow the orginal medieval (or even Roman) road patterns, much to the annoyance of visiting American friends, I've found. One, a doomed drummer from the band that Jamie used to play in, said once, whilst sitting in a traffic jam on our way into our glorious capital, 'You should just bulldoze a big 12 lane freeway right into the centre of London.'
'Yes, but we like all the old bits, as it happens,' we attempted to explain as he checked his watch and shouted out of the window for the 6th time.

ANYWAY, he'd have loved Milton Keynes, I reckon. Much of it is laid out in typical North American grid system which does make sense when you've no medieval bits to skirt around. Jamie and I had not been to MK since before Grace was born, but we were on the type of expedition which requires one the largest shopping malls in Europe, so off we set.

Grace needed a prom dress. Okay, well, she needed a posh frock for the special End Of An Era Party which is happening tomorrow. It's not really a prom and there will not be any dancing, but it is an excellent excuse for a posh frock. (Grace's first.) Clothes shopping with Grace is a kind of unique torture which must be shared between Jamie and I equally or lunacy ensues. Jack was elsewhere on a sleepover, lucky fellow.

We managed to park somewhere, because sensibly, the MK planners had the automobile in mind! We stepped out into a very transatlantic scene and immediately felt as though we neeeded our passports.

However, just where we had parked there was the City Church.

Which is interesting, because it is the combined church for 5 different denominations and was opened jointly by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of Westminster (Anglican and Roman Catholic.) It was cool and peaceful inside and we had lunch in its lovely cafe, girding our loins for the trauma ahead.
I won't go into details, but we did come out, four hours later, with one posh frock, matching accessories and our wits and marriage intact.

Below is a very Milton Keynsian scene, right in the middle of the enormous mall. I offer it without comment.