Juxtapositions or contradictions

Our experience here has been marked in part by a constant juxtaposition of opposites: dour looking people who, when approached, are wonderfully friendly; wretched weather and people walking around in singlets, T-shirts, even sandals (Viking blood still must run thick in the veins of the natives here!).

While the country is very secular (only about 10% attend religous services), a basic part of the school curriculum is reglious study and chapel services. Some buildings are many hundreds of years old, and, obviously, new construcction is constant. This image captures, for me, the juxtaposition of these cultural elements, although I can't make up my mind if they are contradictory.



This is the new Sage Theater viewed from the cemetary of the Gateshead church founded by the Venerable Bede(now defunct and used as a visitor center)! The new "congregational" space of the Sage is just yards away from the old place of congregation, but is millenia away in nature and purpose and meaning for those who go there. Juxtaposition or contradiction?