Thursday 22 November 2012

Travels to Events at Conway Hall in London

Over the 11-12 November I travelled to Conway Hall in London for two very different meetings
On the Sunday I booked online on the National Express Coach to London (Victoria Coach Station), thinking I would try this route for a change. It meant getting up early to catch the coach ar 8:15 from the stand in Queen Street. There was only one other person there, but others were picked up on the way, at Battle, Frant, Tunbridge Wells and other places.

In London I walked down Victoria Street hoping to see something of the Cenotaph ceremonials and hear the band playing. The nearest I could get was by the statue of Abraham Lincoln at one side of Parliament Square, where the sound of the band was completely drowned out by the bells from Westminster Abbey. To get through to Conway Hall I had to go back to Queen Anne's Gate and slip through the barriers there.

At Conway Hall there were two meetings, an EGM followed by an AGM. At the first the decision was made to change the name of "South Place Ethical Society" to "Conway Hall Ethical Society". I voted to retain the old name (there were also choices of "The Ethical Society" or just "Conway Hall" but these were eliminated in a series of votes).

Despite leaving before the end of the AGM I only just made it back to Victoria with a minute to spare before the coach was due to leave at 6:0 pm. I sat near the front and was kept amused by a conversation between the driver, a Geordie from Sunderland, with a lady in the front seat. The journey was quicker since it didn;t have to go via Battle.

On Sunday I caught the train to go to a talk by Sir Roger Penrose on his new Cycles of Time theory of cosmology. I got there an hour early at which time he was signing books in the foyer, and I bought a copy of his book. My ticket was for the balcony area, and I sat at one side, where I could hardly see the speaker, but nevertheless enoyed the talk a great deal. He spoke very clearly.

More on the subject next post perhaps.