World's wonders

I am constantly amazed at the wonderful things the Internet brings to our desk by the window. Friends send me photos of odd things, manmade and natural. I can get the latest on-scene news from faraway places. People I love can communicate instantly without intruding. I'm leading up to this delightful blog I found in the comments section of a site I fancy. The author lives in the East End of London and shares what he sees. Writing about an old craftsman:

Make no mistake, Maurice [Franklin] is a virtuoso. When rooms at Windsor Castle burnt out a few years ago, the Queen asked Maurice to make a new set of spindles for her staircase and invited him to tea to thank him for it too. “Did you grow up in the East End?” she enquired politely, and when Maurice nodded in modest confirmation of this, she extended her sympathy to him. “That must have been hard?” she responded with a empathetic smile, although with characteristic frankness Maurice disagreed. “I had a loving family,” he told her plainly, “That’s all you need for a happy childhood, you don’t need palaces for that.”

Read the rest of Maurice Franklin's story here and spend time with other people in the East End.