The rest of my life: Travelling North Again, first stop Coventry Cathedral.

I am heading back up North, this time by car. Unable to sleep well last night due to excitement, I find driving around Coventry to the cathedral unbelievably hairy. This is to be my lunch stop, en route to Lichfield, where I will spend the night. I am going to catch up with an old family friend then view the cathedral, courtesy of said friend, who is a Canon there. I navigate the modern ring road, medieval streets and arrive, as planned, at Priory Row.

It is a fantastic place, so interesting. Note the Georgian houses with the 20th century cathedral behind. We have lunch and a chat in the very nice Rising Cafe in the cathedral precinct.

Next I join a brilliant tour which takes over an hour. Our guide lived locally during the war years which are crucial to the cathedral's history. He was such a young child that the remembers nothing.

The cathedral is unique. I do remember controversy about it as a child. It was new, different and too modern for some. But today it seems to be beautifully interpreted from my point of view.

First we stop by John Hutton's engraved windows at the back of the cathedral. 'Saints and Angels' was produced between 1955 and1962. Inhaling glass shortened Hutton's life.

The new cathedral sits next to the old which was heavily bombarded in WW2. This was because all the industry of the town was nearby in the city centre. No one was killed; all the cathedral inhabitants took to the cellars. 50,000 small incendary bombs hit the site over eleven hours in November 1940. My lovely Mum was 10 years old. (and in Manchester) I remember bringing her here one evening in the late 80s when she was younger than I am now. Perhaps it was to meet one of her cronies. She was very fit till she was 82 but that day she fell down the steps. I do remember a lovely young man helping her. She thought he was great. Funny what sticks in the mind.

The war artisit John Piper designed the baptistry window. He produced an abstract design that occupies the full height of the bowed baptistry, and comprises 195 panes, ranging from white to deep blue.