The Westminster Rocket

This is the western facade of Westminster Abbey, also known as the Sanctuary. It’s an ironic modern name; perhaps because the extreme left could run out of parliament and take refuge here. Its original name was after Saint Peter when local fishermen saw visions of him upon the Thames, and have ever since offered fish to the abbey. Though I wouldn’t want to eat a fish fresh from the Thames by today’s standards. The Abbey’s impressive twin towers that stretch 225 feet into the sky like a rocket weren’t built until the eighteenth century; which kind of puts a damper on all these conspiracy theories that it’s poised to shoot off into the sky like a rocket. Though I suppose that some politicians could get turned on by this innuendo. Or maybe even go back to the planet that they came from. But for today’s Londoners, there’s a clock on the left tower which counts down the time to the next launch (it’s never accurate), and a warning speaker on the right to advise citizens to stand clear at launch time.