Saving the Cathedral 4

He worked alone in cold, intensely black peat water. Had to feel his way. Laid down one hundred thousand concrete blocks, around a million bricks, and carried on his back uncounted thousands of the concrete bags which shored the Minster up. Six endless years he toiled in tedium. If bored to tears, he never said so. And if he hit snags, he overcame them on his own. Such men – not loud, not proud, not looking for reward – are just the type we really should applaud. Perhaps there were more William Walkers then: clear-eyed, unfussy, knowing what to do, and quietly disposed to see it through.