In the months before King Charles III was crowned on May 6 2023, Westminster Abbey announced that the public would be able to see its fabled Cosmati pavement up close – in their socks.
The 13th-century mosaic floor had been covered up by thick carpets to protect it for as long as anyone alive could remember. The guided tour dates sold out within 24 hours. Visitors jumped at this chance to collect the dust of ages on their feet and take it home.
I went in July. On the day, I chose my socks very carefully. Black, with a repeating pattern of Jonah and the whale in blue and yellow, a little something from the Wells Cathedral giftshop.
