The world from my window

We are back in the Shire, in England's Green and Pleasant Land, for a family wedding. My namesake niece married her military bandsman in a lovely little church with box pews, reclining ruff-collared effigies next to the altar and a Methodist-style gallery where one of the groom's colleagues played a flawless Trumpet Voluntary . The rousing hymns - Lord of All Hopefulness, Dear Lord and Father of Mankind and Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer - and the recessional organ music of William Walton's  Crown Imperial  were British to the core and wonderful for it. Earlier, as the relatives shuffled in after a quick stop at the famous Petersham Nurseries , they gazed around in wonder at the church's quirky interior. There were garlands of flowers and leaves above us, as the bride and groom came into church side by side, a Georgian tradition the priest said, and reminiscent of a scene from Jane Austen. Number One Grand-Daughter followed, a small blonde vision in a wispy aqu...