Library of the Later Day Saints

I love my life!!  I got up later than planned today, dotted around the house a bit, popped to the shop and then ummed and ahed about whether to bother going to Manchester today because it was getting late.  In the end I muttered to myself "I don't know what to do... shall I go or leave it til tomorrow?" - and as I asked the question, The Cure appeared on my Magical Mystery Shuffle singing "Just Say Yes".  Decision made!!  Thank you once again MMS, great decision!!

I walked over to the station with no idea when the next train was due, but they're every half hour so it didn't matter too much.  As it turned out, I must have just missed one, but the three robins that were playing in the trees and bushes made the time pass fairly quickly as I watched them and took a few photos...  

I only managed to capture one at a time on film

You can just about see one of them in here if you look carefully

A couple of days ago a friend posted a photo of a tree on Facebook and a big conversation ensued around the photo because he'd mentioned that his tree had eyes.  It's not something I've noticed before, but now that he's said it, I've noticed eyes on lots of trees - including this one!  During the same conversation, another friend mentioned that she'd seen two robins earlier that day and expressed her surprise because apparently robins are usually quite territorial and live alone without socialising.  Two days later I see three! <3

I loved the red bushes beside this one <3

Who knew?  The trees have eyes!

Looking at it from the other side, it reminded me of a Totem Pole!

 (And now my MMS is playing Big Yellow Taxi - "they took all the trees and put them in a tree museum, and they charged all the people a dollar and a half to see them" - and while I was uploading the photos Cat Stevens came on singing King of Trees...)

Once I made it into Manchester I walked down Deansgate towards the John Rylands Library where I'd planned to go to do some writing.  I'm hand writing a rather special book and it's draughty in my kitchen, so I'd decided to go there after hearing Guy Garvey talking about it with Mark Radcliffe during a feature BBC 6 Music ran last year some time.  I've walked past it countless times but had never been inside so this was the perfect time for me to go there. However, because I'd been running behind time this morning I only had about 90 minutes until closing time.  I decided I may as well get an hour done and could go back again tomorrow, but once I got into the Reading Room all thoughts of actually writing disappeared as I wandered around in awe.  If you've never been then I highly recommend it - it has to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, and the books in there are incredible!

It was actually built after John Rylands' death by his Cuban wife, Enriqueta (I doubt she got her hands dirty with the actual construction though hah!)  She was his third wife, Britain's richest woman and the first to be granted the Freedom of the City of Manchester and when her husband died in 1888 she decided to build a library in his name.  Thank you Enriqueta!  She spent far more on the books than she had on the building itself - and when you see what it looks like inside, you'll begin to get some idea of just how much money that must have been.  In 1892 she spent almost the same amount as the construction had cost, on buying a collection of 40,000 volumes that had once belonged to the Earl of Spencer (who, I imagine, would have been an ancestor of Princess Diana) and then in 1901 she spent £155,000 on a collection including works on paper, bamboo, palm-leaf and even bone!  It's all so cleverly constructed, with bookcases that protect the books from dust and humidity so that the collection should last for centuries to come.  Have a look at the reading room though!

The beautiful stained glass windows and a statue of Enriqueta

The architecture reminds me more of a cathedral than a library

In between the lights, the archways lead to individual alcoves

Even the ceiling is a masterpiece

One of the alcoves

Another alcove, with computerised database of every work contained in the library

Some of the books, hidden behind glass to keep them dust-free

Scholastic theologist John Wycliffe

William Caxton, who introduced the Printing Press to England

Even the radiator covers are beautiful!

The attention to detail is fantastic

Some of the books are huge!  You  can also see the art exhibition on the top of these cases

I only saw two of these clues, I'll try to find out what they are tomorrow

Red dragon sleeping next to the voluminous volumes

As you can see, it's really easy to get distracted by the beauty of the building - this is only a small selection of the photos I took, and I don't tend to take many pictures as a rule.  I'd noticed some illustrations in the display cabinets and had a look at them but kept feeling guilty (why??) about my book sitting there waiting for me to write in it.  I did sit down with it at one point, but the alcove I sat in was so beautiful (as was the chair I sat on!) that I got distracted again and ended up taking more photos.  Look at the window though, wouldn't you forget your reason for being there?!

I got talking to one of the staff as I was taking a photo (he kindly offered to move something out of the way for me) and he pointed out the artist of the pictures on display.  I hadn't realised he was actually there, but it turned out that tonight was the launch of his exhibition so he was just setting up his merchandise.  I asked if it would be OK to hang around and he was more than happy with that, so my 90 minutes suddenly turned into 3 hours!  Hoorah!!

The poster advertising Alan's Later Day Saints

Other side of the poster

I'm so glad I stayed!  I'd looked at the pictures and thought they were quite amusing, but when he showed me the stories that go with each one, I spent some time reading each one as I looked at the corresponding image and quickly came to the conclusion that Alan Birch is a genuis!  Waterfoot is a lovely little village just north of Bury and Rochdale and it also boasts a wonderful grammar school where my youngest went to sixth form - it always reminded me of Hogwarts when I went for parent's evening, and here I was in a library Harry Potter would have felt completely at home studying in!

I don't want to give too much away on here, because it's far better to go and see for yourself, but he's kindly given permission for me to share the story of one of his Later Day Saints.  I also bought some postcards with images of Saint Lotto (complete with a hand coming out of the clouds with it's thumb up!), Saint Last Minute (Alan's a Manchester City fan, but I won't hold it against him - I married one once) and Saint Selfie!  The imagination that's gone into the pictures is brilliant, but for me, the real genius is in the story behind each one.  As a teaser, I've decided to share St Tweetus with you.  This is partly because Alan had mentioned his Twitter account @abirch5 and that he really wasn't au fait with it all - I'd like to think he's just about to get a baptism of fire in that regard - don't let me down folks! ;O) #alanssaints

Saint Tweetus

Here's his biography according to Alan:

Saint Tweetus 
Saints day 1st January 
Born AD 1988. Florence

Saint Tweetus was born in Florence, Italy.  His father, a computer programmer, and his mother a postmistress, took great care to have their son instructed at home, and afterwards sent him to Rome  St Tweetus had there for tutor the famous pagan Grammarian Donatus.  He became master of the Latin and Greek tongues, and made such progress in oratory that he for some time pleaded at the bar.  Alas, due to his looking younger than his years, he never got served.  In anger he retired to his spartan rooms, and led the life of a hermit, throwing himself into the study of Information Technology.  He was visited by luminaries such as Saints Hawkins, Zuckenberg and Gates and was even introduced to Jobs.
He traveled to Silicone Valley in USA, turning his back on religion and immersing himself in work.  
The group discussed their tribulations and experiences of social exclusions, and the seed for Twitter was established.  St Tweetus spent 3 years alone in his rooms, seeing only 117 characters in that time.  On the first of March 2006, he announced to the world the creation of Twitter, an online social networking system.  The reaction was spectacular, and he soon had millions of followers.  He was martyred in 2015, when he was attacked by a gang of Trolls, aided by some 2,000 pensioners angered by their inability to access technology.  His shattered mobile phone is now a guarded treasure in the Duomo, resting in a knitted mobile phone sock, one can still see his final Tweet, "AAAAghhhhh LOL!" on the screen.

It's a good job librarians have evolved since my younger days, or I'd have been shushed right out of the door, because every one of his Saints' biographies is written in the same vein and I chuckled to myself a lot (although I did manage not to do my usual huge belly laughs, or I might have been evicted anyway, evolution or not!)

Alan has 80 prints so far, with 20 of them on display at the Library and the exhibition runs until 29th June 2015.  He'll be producing a new Saint at fortnightly intervals and is hoping that other people will get involved and suggest new saints or even submit their own!  Interactive exhibition at it's finest!!  At the end of June he'll select one drawing each from the Under- and Over-16 age groups, the winners then being offered the chance to attend a printing class at his studios.  I imagine that will be a great day, as he's such a friendly guy and his sense of humour is obviously very sharp!

See what I mean about loving my life?  Had I waited until tomorrow I would have missed all of that, and would likely never have realised that there were such brilliant stories behind the etchings - and now I have another new friend or two.  

One of the reasons I particularly wanted to go to the John Ryland Library was so that I could do some research into Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī.  He was a Persian poet in the 13th century, and his works are some of the most romantic I've ever read.  Funnily enough, he's a Muslim Saint.  How's that for synchronicity?!  I only discovered him a few weeks ago, and now I can't get enough of his work.  It's stunning!

I'm listening to Deepak Chopra's "A Gift Of Love" now, and wondering how I've managed to get to this age without ever having heard of Rumi before.  It's really difficult to choose a favourite, but one that works particularly well for my blog (and my love of meditation!) is this:

"There is nothing in the universe that you are not.Everything you want, look for it within yourself - You are that.."

And another, that I would have loved to read whilst I was in hospital:

"Don't get lost in your painKnow that one day your painwill become your cure."

I love him.  I must pack some tissues for tomorrow though, because the books I'm reading are from the 19th century so I'm not even allowed to take a pen into the room with me.  Somehow I don't think it would go down very well if I were to spill tears all over the pages!

My day carried on in the same vein once I'd left, but I'll do a separate blog about that so that you don't fall asleep on me... 

If you get the chance to go to see Alan's exhibition before the end of June though, I really do highly recommend it - and if you can come up with some new saints for him then I'm sure he'll create a back story to have you in stitches as well!!