Connections

St Paul's Cathedral, seen from the Barbican Centre, London

I made the strangest connection the other day. It was one of those things that is common in Tasmania but much rarer in London.

Lauch and I went to the Barbican to see a movie at the Australian film festival, a movie called Whatever Happened to Brenda Hean? The movie's basically about the disappearance of Brenda Hean in the '70s. She was an environmental activist who was trying to save Lake Pedder in Tasmania.

As luck would have it, the film's director was there to talk to the audience after the film. He is Tasmanian and an interesting guy... we chatted to him after the film and it turns out he is a distant relative of Lauch's. This is, of course, an incredibly Tasmanian thing to happen. Except that we are here, in London. Where nobody looks at you in the street, let alone looks you in the eye, strikes up a conversation with you to find that lo and behold! You are family.

Maybe it was this odd moment of connection that made me look up and notice St Paul's Cathedral in the photo above. You can see it from the fourth floor of the Barbican but as you go down the stairs to street level, it disappears. I like the idea of collecting odd little facts.