Pandemic

 Well, I've been wanting to walk in the footsteps of mathematicians from the 16th century.  At that time the bubonic plague still made itself known with some frequency.  Outbreaks of plague in London did not come to an end until the "Great Plague" of 1665-1666.  As to Italy, Cardano writes while in Padua of how his beloved Milan is being overrun by plague (and famine and war).  Thankfully I'm not surrounded by famine and war, but I must say that the current COVID-19 pandemic is closer than I wanted to come in getting a sense of what a time of plague was like.  I'm not saying this remotely resembles the Black Death, in which nearly a quarter of London's population died in 18 months, but I am saying that experiencing a modern-day pandemic is walking a bit closer to such than I had hoped.

Two days ago I was reading in archives.  Today all museums and libraries in London are closed.  Westminster Abbey is closed.  I have decided to move to my next destination earlier than anticipated, so in the chaos of this change it may be a while before I have another post up.  In the meantime, here are some snapshots from today - a day in which I spent 6 hours walking to destinations rather than get on the much faster public transportation!

 I'd never before gotten  picture of Westminster Abbey with no people "in the way."

 Rather quiet streets and sidewalks today.

I had hoped to visit the Florence Nightingale Museum.  I will be putting up a post at some point about her work with statistics, so tune in for that later.

Entry to Lambeth Palace Library, which I didn't get to enter due to pandemic.

Here's a peek over the wall at Lambeth Palace.

The picture below makes it evident that I am not suffering when it comes to food.  I sure am hoping everybody involved in the process is washing their hands very thoroughly, however!

Dee and Cardano met in 1552 in Southwark, so I made sure on this unexpectedly last day in London to visit Southwark Cathedral, which would have been familiar to them (despite some remodeling).

As I walked back to my hotel, I took leave of London by looking longingly at her skyline and her mighty River Thames.  (Actually I'm supposed to back by the end of April, but who knows if the situation will be such with the pandemic that London is on lock-down then.  I may be back soon; I may not be.)

I wanted to end with this image.  I take a picture of this engraving every time I visit Westminster Abbey.  I know that every hour on the hour a clergy member prays inside the cathedral for our world. In addition to that they have this prayer engraved in the very stonework of the cathedral.  I, for one, am very glad to know that they are lifting up prayers for us all.