Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Taking advantage of my rare Saturday off, today I explored Udine a bit more, focusing mostly on the works of Tiepolo. 

"Giambattista Tiepolo, one of the greatest European painters of the 18th century, was born in Venice in 1696, and it is there that the largest group of his works is on display today. But another Italian town played an important role in Tiepolo's formation, and it is Udine. From 1726 to 1730, the local Patriarch, Dionisio Delfino, lavished his praise and remuneration upon the artist, commissioning frescoes that make it well worth the detour to this lovely Friulan town." (http://www.initaly.com/regions/friuli/tiepolo.htm)

On route to begin my tour at the Museo Diocesano e Gallerie del Tiepolo, I actually stopped to have an ice-cream! It's November, but the sun had come out today and the gelaterie were raking in money from people happily reminiscing about summer days...  it's been really really dull and miserable this week, so it was nice to enjoy a little bit of cocco and fragola (they didn't have frutti di bosco - gutted!). Anyway, so I was walking to where I thought the museum was, when I saw a sign for "museum" in the opposite direction, so as it wasn't quite due to be open yet anyway,  I stopped to eat my ice cream and while I was doing so I had a look at my map to check which direction I needed to go. As I was doing so, a man walked past me. He didn't say anything or do anything, but about 10m up the road he suddenly stopped, turned round and came back, and said "I'll leave you this leaflet in case you decide...". At first I thought it was one of those religious leaflets that people often hand out here, but it wasn't, it was the leaflet for the museum I was on my way to!! He was just about to open it up! I laughed and said that was exactly what I was looking for...he pointed out the door to me, and I said I'd be along in a minute. So, off I went, and there he was, just opening up. He was a lovely eccentric old man and we had quite a chat as he escorted me up in the lift to where the museum starts (as I was the only one, of course!). He had lent me the guidebook to read as I went round, which was very helpful indeed as otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue what I was looking at!

So, the museum is housed in the Patriarchal Palace, former residence of the Patriarch of Aquileia and current seat of the Bishop of Udine. Tiepolo was commissioned to do frescoes in the palace, and as such there are a lot of his works there. 

Picture credit: http://www.paesionline.it/udine/foto_dettaglio.asp?filename=DD1920_udine_tiepolo_museo_diocesano

This fresco is the main one in the Galleria del Tiepolo, where the majority of his works are, and it depicts Rachel hiding the idols from Laban. Not my kind of art work at all, but it was fascinating to see the depictions of various biblical episodes. Like Jacob's dream, below. 

Picture credit: http://www.backtoclassics.com/images/pics/giovannibattistatiepolo/giovannibattistatiepolo_jacobs_dream.jpg

Anyway, aside from these frescoes, the palace was full of other artwork, and a magnificent library as well. Well worth a visit!

From there I went towards the Duomo, which I had previously only been in very briefly. I knew there were some more Tiepolo works in there as my Rough Guide describes them as "not to be missed". So, this time I didn't miss them, I went round carefully and sought them out!

While I was there, and as it was open, I visited the Museo del Duomo which is in the Baptistery and side chapels. More wonderful frescoes (not his this time, but a young pupil of Giotto) and a very interesting sarcophagus, depicting scenes from the life of Bertrando. I got a full guided tour of this from the lady who was manning the museum... she was the second quite eccentric old person I met today! I had a lovely little chat with her during the course of which I had to tell her SIX times how long I was staying in Udine for! But she was very complimentary about my Italian (of course not about my accent, just my "perfect grammar" ) so that was nice. 

I still have some places to visit to see the complete list of Tiepolo (list found here: http://www.initaly.com/regions/friuli/tiepolo.htm).  The Castle and one other church which I didn't find today.  All in all very interesting, and it was certainly nice to have time to go and explore a bit, as I feel like I've hardly been into the centre at all! Well, I haven't - I think that was only the third time, and I've been here 7 weeks! Very different from living right in the centre as I was in Brescia...not that I'm far out, but I haven't got bags of time to go wandering into town!! 

Incidentally, it's a wonder I was able to enjoy any of this artwork at all - when I woke up this morning my right eyelid was so swollen that my eye was more than half closed! I looked like the one eyed monster! Luckily it had gone down quite a lot by the time I went out, but it's still not fully functioning!! Thank goodness I didn't have to teach!!  

Hmm, so last time I said how wonderful the bank account is. It still is, but I have just discovered something I *can't* do, which is really rather annoying... 

So far I've successfully:
- taken cash out of the hole in the wall
- paid by debit card (here: Bancomat) in the supermarket
- verified that my salary will be paid in monthly by direct transfer.

That's all great.
BUT.

I just went to buy some books online from Amazon, and I went to pay, and then realised that my "debit card", my Bancomat card, has one 6 digit number on it and my name and that's IT. I.e. There's no start date, expiry date, issue number, security code etc. That makes it totally useless online. How annoying! I don't know whether there's another type of card I need to apply for or something. It seems totally bizarre to have a Bancomat card that can only be used in person, but perhaps it's just because online shopping is only just starting to take off in Italy...

Very annoying though as I had to use my Nationwide debit card, but my account has very limited funds in now. I've got a Nationwide account, a Natwest account and a Natwest credit card, and an ING savings account with rapidly diminishing funds. I *can* use any of the cards to pay, but the accounts have no money going into them and no chance of replenishing what I take out, so it's really a very bad idea to use them at all (I already have to use them while I'm at home to get £s). It was going to be so easy having Italian salary and taking cash out of that account and only making payments with it... because to transfer money from my Italian account to my ING savings or anywhere else would cost more again too, and it's just not worth it with the exchange rate. Grrrr!

Still, all in all it's still much better to have it, I just don't really get how it's possible that the card can't be used online! I'll have to ask my colleague whether she has ever tried to and what she does... 

In other news... new housemate (number 2) has just moved in today. It's already quite different around here - hopefully won't take long to get used to it!! 

Ahhh, how lovely it is to be at home for a day. At home with plenty to do, but at home nonetheless. The rest of the weekend I was out most of the time, so I have taken advantage of having an extra day off work due to All Saints' Day bank holiday here to catch up with boring chores (washing, ironing etc), to do some lesson planning (not much and not nearly enough yet!) and general chilling, which included actually sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea all the way through (rather than taking gulps whilst trying to do everything else at the same time which is how it usually goes in the mornings!). 

It's a shame the weather is pretty awful at the moment (constant rain) or it would have been nice to go somewhere today. Still have MUCH to explore. I've realised still haven't even done Udine properly yet... haven't had the time or mentality to be a tourist properly here. Perhaps I never will be!
I've also realised that I've been here over a month now and am STILL not officially registered in any way, shape or form here. All my documents still relate to Brescia. I think I can update my Carta Regionale dei Servizi (in order to register with a GP) without too much trouble but it's quite possible they will tell me I have to register myself as living here first. I need to avoid doing what I did in Brescia which was registering as resident here. I only want to be domiciled for the moment...it's all thoroughly complicated and confusing, but my work contract is based on me being newly arrived from the UK and therefore paying taxes in the UK (with an apparent 2 year exemption for teachers). Who knows how it will all actually work out. When I have time to go and do the queuing thing at any of the relevant offices is another question. It's my fault for not getting on with it before I actually started work (which was the whole point of coming here early...). I was a bit blasé because I already had all the things definitely required (codice fiscale etc). I'm sure it doesn't really matter that much though because as an EU citizen I don't actually need a permesso di soggiorno or anything. 

The good news, for anyone who remembers the Barclays Italia saga from this time last year, is that I am now fully set up with an Italian bank account! I opened one recommended by a colleague, and so far it couldn't be better. It's an online one without all the ridiculous charges, and so far it seems to function perfectly normally, like you would expect a bank account to (and exactly like the Barclays one didn't). So, after a year of having cash stashed in the "Bank of Charis" in my bedroom, I now have it safely stored in a bank account, accessible from anywhere via cash points (what a novelty!!) and I can make debit card payments, and have my salary paid direct into the account. Amazing!!! All it took was a recommendation from a fellow Brit in It!!

Wow, yeah, so I haven't updated for quite some time!

Basically I have no time at the moment!

Had a wonderful but very busy week last week... on Tuesday I finished at 8pm and went straight to the monthly Taize service, then on Wednesday I finished at 9pm and went straight to a presentation of photos from various parish trips this summer (including Taize) then back for tea at Carla and Renato's until late (got home about midnight..). Thursday I finished at 9pm and thankfully didn't have anywhere to rush off to.
Friday was the busiest day. Got to school at 8am and we went off to a Cambridge Day (basically a conference for teachers with workshops about various things). The "day" itself was luckily just the morning. We left at 1.30pm, got back about 2pm and had an hour to prepare for the afternoon's lessons. I had lessons solid from 3-8pm (including two groups of teenagers). At 8pm I rushed off to choir, for the final rehearsal before singing on Sunday at the special service for Blood Donors.

On Saturday both my lessons were cancelled, so although I was in school most of the morning preparing, I didn't actually have to teach anyone which was good! But then, instead of my usual total chill out routine on Saturday evening, I had another engagement... went and had chestnuts cooked in a washing machine (don't ask, I'm too tired to explain!) and then watched a brilliant film called Si puo' fare. This was again with my lovely new friends here (the same people)...so basically I was with them on Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Friday night, Saturday night and then of course Sunday 

On Sunday we sang at the service which was GREAT. I am absolutely loving being in a proper choir again! Then there was a buffet lunch, at which I accidentally drank quite a lot of red wine which went straight to my head... but this meant I was quite chatty (which for me in Italian is very rare!) so that was fun. Then I went to a place called Bibione with Carla and Renato, where we went to a gathering of various people which was good fun. Bibione is by the coast, but the weather was pretty miserable...it's a real tourist seaside resort, but in the rain walking along the sea wasn't so much fun. Still had a really good day though, and then when we got back to Udine we went back to the cousins' house for pizza which was lovely. SO much Italian practice talking to lots of different people, and making up for the fact that I spend my whole week speaking English!

I'm pretty tired now and I've got a lot of preparation still to do for this week, so I think I'd better go to sleep now so that I can get up early and head into school and be there alllllll day from about 10am until I finish at 8pm. Long days, long hours, long preparation = tired tired Charis!!

This weekend looks like it's going to be quite busy as well but the GOOD NEWS is that not only do the clocks go back so we get an extra hour in bed, but Monday is a bank holiday so I get an extra day off!!! Shame that Monday is my lightest day at work so I only "miss" two lessons!!  

Oh and I almost forgot... I've started drinking coffee a LOT. From absolutely hating it and never drinking it, this week I have had at least one coffee every day, and often more. I mean, last year I drank it a few times but didn't really like it much, then last Sunday I had it at Carla and Renato's after lunch, and it wasn't that bad... then I accepted the offer of coffee from a colleague who was going to get one from McCafe...and that's been it, I've got one ever since (of all different types - mostly cappuccino, but also espresso, macchiato etc). We're "lucky" enough to have the McDonalds cafe right underneath the school, so I am able to get one on the way in every day now!! That's what working so much has done to me! All my colleagues were laughing at how I've only been there a month and they've already done that to me!!  

Another wonderful Sunday. This time sampling the delights of the chestnut festival in a place called Valle di Soffumbergo:

30esima edizione della famosissima
Festa delle Castagne e del Miele di Castagno
nel piccolo borgo di Valle di Soffumbergo (UD)

 
Had a thoroughly lovely day with Carla, Renato, Francesco and Daniela. Also had confirmation of how small this world really is when afterwards we dropped in at the house of a couple and I noticed pictures on the wall of Monica from the Brescia Taize group... turns out they know her very well, and also many of the others I knew in Brescia.  

Quite late on Saturday night I decided to go to Trieste on Sunday - the weather forecast was stunning, and there was a sailing race called the Barcolana taking place - about 1800 sailing boats on a round circuit in the Gulf of Trieste. Well worth the trip... the weather was indeed simply gorgeous - bright blue skies, sunny such that I actually got a little bit burnt etc... beautiful day for sitting looking out to sea watching the boats go by.  As the train approaches Trieste you go round the bay a bit so we saw the launch of the boats from the train - stunning site, just a shame I didn't get any pics of that moment! Still, I was sitting on the rocks when the winning boat came through, completing the course in record time! 

Last time I was in Trieste it was in May 2007. The weather on this most recent trip, in October, was better! So I took advantage of this and went back to some of the places I'd already been, like Castello Miramare - even more beautiful against the bright blue sky background! I also went round the inside this time, which I didn't do last time. 

Then, making the most of bus tickets being valid 4 hours on Sundays (240 mins as opposed to the usual 60mins on weekdays - first city I've seen that does that!) I caught one up the hill to the cathedral. I'd been there before as well but on a most definitely duller day, so it was lovely to be back in the sunshine.

I'm lucky to be so near such a beautiful city! That said, I haven't actually had time to explore the beautiful city I'm living in properly yet!! Maybe this weekend... 

I've actually managed to get reasonably ahead with planning this week. I've just been told about a new student who I'm seeing 8-9pm tomorrow and 9.30-11am on Saturday though, so need to sort something out for her. Otherwise I've just got a couple of lessons left to plan. I've also got to think of something to write for my staff profile on the school website - eek! I'd actually forgotten about this until just now, but I was asked to do it on Saturday (before boss went away until Tuesday) - better get something down and give it to him! 

I had some really nice groups today - I like Wednesdays! I'm not yet convinced about Tuesdays... Fridays are definitely still going to be the worst! Shame it's not even the last day of the week, so I can't take solace from that fact!! But normally my Saturdays are quite light - my 9-10am lesson has been moved to 11am-12pm now, and that's the regular one. The early one this week is just a one off. Finishing at 9pm is going to be interesting though...at least I do have a break from 5.30-6.30pm so I can try and get an early supper. What, however, is another question, as packed lunch and packed supper in one day is a bit boring... still haven't quite got to grips with when to cook, when to make packed lunch, when I can get home to eat (mostly never during the day, and only at 8.30pm in the evening). Still, I'm getting into more of a routine now and feeling much better about planning! 

Wow, what a lovely outlook this book gives! Recommended as post-CELTA reading (I actually read it first as pre-CELTA reading and have just skim read it a second time), this book is really useful, but this section just made me laugh....

Teaching English can be very exciting, but at 3.30 on a Monday afternoon, with a whole term ahead of you, it can seem like a lot of other things, too.
For the first two years or so in the profession, the demands of getting to grips with subject matter, technique, organisation, school politics, not to mention students, can be very stressful and tiring, and it may often feel as if you stand no chance at all of winning through. Ideals and enthusiasm that you started with may fade away as it becomes clear that you can't make every lesson perfect, that some students, some classes simply won't like what you do. And there are the days when you may have to struggle just to get through.
As time goes on, you will probably find that you have more experience to lean on, more tried-and-tested lessons in the bag to recycle endlessly. Then boredom and staleness are the dangers, once the challenge of becoming competent has faded... the question becomes not "How can I survive?" but "How can I keep moving forward?"...
(J. Scrivener, Learning Teaching, Macmillan 2005, p375) 

Wonderful!! 

I had another first lesson today, with two female students in their early 30s. It went well and I enjoyed it. So far I have enjoyed every lesson I've done, and like all my students... the challenge is managing to organise myself so that having so many different courses all together doesn't kill me! Busy busy busy!! 
Tomorrow I have my first lesson with another one-to-one student and my first lesson with an Intermediate B1 group course. I observed that group last week and think they should be okay! Nice slow start to the week, building up to the hell that is going to be Friday!!!  

In other news, it's been raining torrentially for the past 2 hours. Turns out that Friuli-Venezia Giulia is famously the most rainy region in Italy! Well I'll feel at home then (according to all the Italians!) 

Today was the best day I've had in a long time! It was exactly what I needed to relax between the fairly stressful week that was the one gone by, and the even more stressful week that is the one to come!  Un bellissimo giorno... 

So, having written last week that I planned to go back to the Methodist church this week, I didn't. Instead, I went to the parish church of the people I met in Taizé this summer. It was fantastic and I definitely plan to go back there... there's a choir too (rehearsals on Friday evening - might be a little bit tired by then, but hopefully will make it occasionally!). Anyway the church was really nice, the priest very welcoming and friendly (and at some point I will broach the "Eucharistic Hospitality" thing with him), good music (including organ!) and it was lovely to be at a church with people I already knew. As I've always said before, liturgically speaking the service was word for word the same as the service I'm used to going to and I felt completely at ease being there. I didn't take communion today because I basically need to get permission from the priest. I was introduced to him and he said we can chat any time, and I have discussed the problem with the people who invited me there, so I think they understand! So, that's progress on the church front for a start!

Afterwards I had been invited to lunch at Carla and Renato's house. They are the couple who I was introduced to in Taizé because they were the group leaders and in charge of one of the monthly prayers in Udine. They are absolutely lovely and I was really pleased to spend a bit more time with them getting to know them. Then afterwards more lovely people came - the other young people who were in Taizé the same week as me.  It's so nice to have a link to people through a shared passion and shared experience.  

The six of us set out in two cars to go on a little tour of the area. First we went to the Abbey of Rosazzo . The website says "First-time visitors to the abbey are generally unable to withhold their amazement and spontaneously express their admiration and surprise over the environment, the panorama and the entire abbey complex.". They are right! It was truly magnificent. Even though the skies were a bit grey today, the view over all the vineyards etc was fantastic. The whole place was just so tranquil...
 
The best bit was spontaneous singing of Taizé chants in the rose garden, in 4 part harmony. So beautiful. I can't explain how glad I am that Gabriele just happened to be in my small group that week and that it meant I was able to meet the Udine people there and already have contacts here. It's so nice to find people who share the same passion, and who are all very musical! It reminded me so much of being in Poznan and singing in the 4 parts at the bus stop with Julian etc. Absolutely brilliant. I LOVE singing Taizé!!! Especially with other people who love it too  

After that we went on to a town called Cividale del Friuli - another beautiful little place to visit. Again, very peaceful and tranquil..standing on the "Devil's Bridge" looking down at very clear blue/green water... beautiful!
 

Some very interesting architecture and history to see. I'll definitely have to go back. It was on my list of places I wanted to go, and I'm really pleased I was able to go in compagnia. Roll on more great days like that! 

Don't know when I will next have time to write a proper update - busy busy busy!!! So here are some brief notes to remind me what I want to say later!!

• New flatmate, Rita, arrived yesterday. So far so good - she's very nice and we have already "hung out" a bit and I think it will all be good.
• Work is, well, pretty busy already! The handbook I got today starts by saying it might be "bewildering" at the start. That it certainly is.
• Courses I have on my timetable so far are one-to-one lessons with: an elementary level student (actually a false beginner), 3 intermediate students and one upper-intermediate student. Mostly 1 hour lessons but tomorrow is 1.5 hours with the false beginner...  Then group course wise so far I only have the Beginners one (2 hours per week) but am going to find out on Friday that I have courses at basically every level (cos I saw a post it today which said that).
  Will be good to "get into the swing of things", I just hope I do!!!
• Tonight I went to a Taize service with the people I met in Taize this summer. Really really good and glad I went in spite of being absolutely knackered after a LONG day at work (had lots of induction stuff today and observed a 2 hour lesson after that - was in school from 10.30am until 7pm. My first student didn't actually show up, so I have prepared her first lesson twice now and will have to prepare it a third time when I know she is actually coming!!). Anyway Taize was really good and it was lovely to see some faces I recognised from the summer

That's all for now I think. More details on all the above to follow at some point if I ever have time to breathe again. Incidentally, I now have a lesson between 12 and 2.30pm every day... and a 9am lesson on Saturday...and then the evening courses 6-8pm. Obviously I knew it was going to be like this, but it is definitely going to be a challenging timetable!! Not sure when I'm supposed to eat for a start! Going to have to get used to some very different hours!! 

Yes, it's Sunday and this post is going to be about church, so if you aren't interested or don't want to know, then don't bother reading on! 

On this Sunday exactly a year ago (Sunday 27th Sept 2009) I attended the Waldensian Church in Brescia. I wrote about it here: http://xapis.xanga.com/713087323/item/. I never actually ended up going back (although I did go to an ecumenical Taize service there in May), and perhaps I did slightly regret not having given it more of a chance.  The main word I used to sum up what put me off was that it was all a bit "chaotic". The thing I found most chaotic was that the service was held bilingually in Italian and English (including singing hymns simultaneously in both languages), because most of the congregation were from Ghana and didn't speak Italian. At the time, I had been back in Italy a week and was really keen to be fully submerged into Italian, and I was put off by the idea of having church in English as it sort of went against my wish to meet people who I could speak Italian with...  as it ended up, I didn't go back there or get involved with a church of any sort at all. I went to the monthly Taize services and I met people through the gospel choir I was singing in. 

This year though, I would really like to find a church that I can attend regularly and hopefully get involved with a community. The problem is that it's not easy to decide which way to go when there isn't a church like yours (I suppose I'm a middle of the road sort of Anglican - used to different types of services from fairly high to quite broad). Protestantism in Italy is completely sidelined - according to Wikipedia, 91.6% of the Italian population are Christian, of which (predictably) 87.6% are Roman Catholic. 1.6% of the others are Orthodox and 1.3% are Protestant. Of those, one of the biggest groups is made up of Waldensian and Methodists, who amount to 0.09% of the population. 0.03% is Anglican - in the bigger cities you will find an Anglican church (there's one in Venice, Rome, Florence etc). In the smaller cities you will find that out of 150 churches, 147 will be Roman Catholic, 2 will be Orthodox and 1 will be Protestant. In Trento, the only protestant church was an independent one (which I never went to..), in Brescia it was the Waldensian one, and in Udine it's a Methodist one (the Waldensian and Methodist Council is one entity here). Obviously none of them are ever going to be quite what I am used to, but my options are either to put up with that and get used to something different, or attend a Catholic church which is probably closer to what I'm used to in more ways than it differs (and probably more ways than the protestant churches present in Italy), but has always left me feeling a bit awkward for one reason or another... I am still undecided about which way to go really. 

I had been planning to find a Catholic church to get involved with properly, and over the summer spoke to many many different people about the not-being-able-to-take-communion issue: Anglicans, Catholics, clergy, lay people, Taize brothers (Italian, French, English), Christians at large... and by the time I got back here I had been reassured enough that it would be okay to take it after all. So at the last service I went to in Brescia in Sept (which was probably about the 4th mass I attended all year), I took it without too much worry. 

I only discovered a few days ago that there was this Methodist church at all, and therefore that I did in fact have another option (just to confuse me again). The pastor has three churches to take care of - the Methodist one in Udine, a Methodist one in Gorizia and a Waldensian one somewhere I can't remember the name of. So, she obviously takes turns being at each one. I went along today, determined to give it a go (more of a go than I gave Brescia I suppose), and actually I was pleasantly surprised. The pastor was in Gorizia today so I didn't meet her, and there was an old lady preaching. Now the main difference compared to my experience in Brescia was that although the majority of their total congregation are Ghanese (just like Brescia - I have discovered that most of the Christians in Ghana are Methodist/Presbyterian, so that's why!), they actually run 2 separate services: 10am in Italian and 11.30am in Twi, except once a month when everyone is together. So today the service was entirely in Italian and therefore already appealed much more to me! Overall it was okay. Obviously it's VERY different to what I'm used to, but I am definitely planning to go back and at least see through a complete month's cycle, as I get the impression every week will be quite different. I would still like to try out another Catholic church at some point as well though, so will either have to go to an evening mass or wait until I have done 4 weeks with the Methodists. 

This is a photo I took of the church.... it took me a little while to locate it, hidden as it is! In Italy "evangelica" is the word they use for protestant, so where a church named "Evangelical Church" would usually send me running in England, here it just means it's not catholic. So yeah, they've basically just taken this building and knocked it in to a sort of hall. It's smaller inside than the Brescia one (so it'll be interesting to see how everyone crams in during the common worship services) but not too bad.  

I can't compare it to a Methodist service in England because despite being a member of MethAng (the Methodist and Anglican Society) at university for a couple of years, I don't think I've ever actually made it to a Methodist service! 

Anyway, the people were really nice and welcoming. There was a marathon taking place in Udine today so all the roads were closed, so a lady told me there were fewer there than normal. We didn't quite hit the 20 mark. However, people were friendly and there was also a Hungarian girl there for the first time - she's just arrived in Udine as well, to do Erasmus. So that was really nice as we had a long conversation (in English of course :s at least I'm not SO fussed about always speaking Italian now, though really I should be as I really need the speaking practice!) and we've swapped contact details to keep in contact and hopefully meet up sometime which will be nice. Good to start meeting people outside work. 

So, all in all quite a positive experience, and we will see what happens next week and whether that affects my opinion. I have to say, I did realllly miss St Mary Magdalene's today!  (Updated to add: I'm getting a good dose of fantastic Anglican music now though listening to Choral Evensong from Chichester Cathedral on BBC Radio 3 - thank goodness radio is available, even if iPlayer TV isn't...)

St Mary Magdalene, Taunton (photo by Ken Grainger)