Out of sorts today. Bit of a chill on the liver. Didn't sleep well last night; not even as well as usual. And I couldn't settle to my nap this afternoon, so I am now lethargic, mildly irritable and generally dejected. We are all more or less slaves to our internal organs, especially the digestion. Wells described it nicely in the first part of "Mr. Polly". He was aiming for humour of course, but truth was there.
I was at the British Museum on Monday, just getting ideas, though I didn't get any. Went in to look at the Elgin marbles. I hear that the Greek government want them to be returned and put on display in Athens. Not back in place on the Parthenon, but in a specially constructed museum. I was in Athens a couple of years ago and ascended to view the Parthenon. Impressive, and moving. My overall feeling was sadness that the place had been more or less destroyed as part of a minor skirmish in a stupid war, after thousands of years of standing proud above the city. Having been brought to England by Elgin has probably saved the sculptures from damage and perhaps destruction, and I am glad they are in London to be seen by people like me whenever we wish. But I would be hard pressed to mount a moral defence for their retention now.I look about London and wonder if there is anything here that would excite people in two thousand years time if it were still in place? Plenty of monumental architecture of course but nothing original that stands out. The Tower probably. Perhaps Greenwich Naval College? The Reading Room at the B.M.? What would most reflect our age and genius in my opinion would be one of the great stations - St. Pancras or Paddington. I don't expect people will still be using trains in two thousand years but I think they would admire the 'spirit' of the station in the way we admire the Parthenon.
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