Return to St. Mary's?

Hard to believe it's only been a little over three years since I wrote about "The Trees of St. Mary's, from Goring-by-Sea in Sussex, England. But I am now making arrangements for my return to the U.K. in April and thought of visiting them again, this time to attend a service.

The situation is not ideal: I am scheduled to arrive at London Gatwick at 7 AM on a Sunday and experience says I'm fairly wiped when I arrive in Europe (always in the morning). But functional enough to clear Immigration, catch a second flight if necessary, and still get to my hotel however I get there: whether by car, train, or taxi. Also not sure yet if Gatwick has showers so I can clean up & dress up -- I'm definitely not at my most presentable when I arrive in Europe and I'm sure their dress code is a bit higher than my travel regime, though I rarely if ever travel wearing jeans. Slacks, nice shirt, jacket... walking shoes or maybe dressier slip-ons (with orthotics).

By early afternoon Sunday I'll be pretty much trashed and will need to be in a hotel so I can adjust my body clock for the days ahead.

But it looks good. Their "Sung Eucharist" is at 09:30, map services says it's only a 45 minute *drive* from Gatwick Airport, and the nearest train station is only 3/4 kilometer from the church. (I don't have to bug my co-worker there for a lift.) I think I can get there in plenty of time, walk on over, participate in "Sung Eucharist" (will they be "higher church" than St. Bart's? stay tuned), catch the train back to LGW, have lunch, check in at the hotel and crash.

Still have to research a few elements of this, but it seems the Wandering Anglican just might get to visit St. Mary's again.

(An alternative is to skip all this, take the train into London, tour it again this time including Lambeth Palace if it's open on a Sunday, and be off-schedule/jet-lagged for my meetings.)