November 2022 Part One - A fine weekend in London

 November was here, and that meant the monster that is Christmas was right around the corner. There would be no such thing as spare time, and any little time I had not working, would be spent recovering from work. So I thought I would make the most of it, by having a weekend up in London with James. I'd worked until midnight on the friday night before, and we got up earlyish (I think I said I would be up at 8, but I think it was closer to 9, or maybe half past nine!), and after brunch drove up to London. We stayed near Ealing, and were absolutely stung in parking charges, I think it would have been cheaper to have caught the train up. We've remembered that for the future!

Anyway, I'd planned a little exploration around the Greenwich area, in particularly some of the historical parts. We started by catching the tube to Canary Wharf, where this cheerful giant rubber duck greeted us! Who wouldn't want to be greeted by a giant rubber duck? We walked down to the DLR, and headed over to Greenwich. 

Greenwich is a very historical place, and notable for its maritime connections, as well as being the place where Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was created.  Greenwich has also been used to many movies, such as Thor, as well as hosting a large maritime museum.

We had visited the museum before, so today was spent exploring the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. Ordinarily, a foot tunnel under the river would not be so interesting, but this one is a thing of beauty. At both ends, there are these glass covered domes, allowing light (when it is sunny at least) to flow in and down the stairs. The tunnel runs from Greenwich to Millwall, and it has a sort of charismatic charm to it. The charm is different inside the tunnel, where it narrows due to bomb damage in the second world war, and the victorian tiles have been replaced with a steel and concrete patch to stop the Thames from rushing in. 

This was the view from the Millwall side, looking across the river. In the distance in the centre ish part of the picture, you can just about make out the Cutty Sark, with it's masts lit up into the outline of a christmas tree!

We then headed along the riverside, passing this interesting looking church and chimney, beautifully lit with this soft yellow light, which looked gorgeous compared with the dusky blue sky.

And this was what we were looking for! This was the launching ramp of the Great Eastern. I'd been reading about it, and was fascinated by it's story. She was the largest ship built in her day, a record that would last for nearly 50 years, something which is impressive considering at the speed that the Victorians were building & designing. She had five funnels, two large paddles and sails, and could go from the UK to Australia without refuelling and with four thousand people on board. For her time, she was almost legendary!

However, she was too big for her time, and along with several incidents that caused her to be seen as an unlucky ship, she only transported passengers for a couple of years. Several workers were killed when the ship's first launching attempt took place, it took another two attempts to get her in the water. Five more were killed during her sea trials from an explosion. It was then also discovered that the sails could not be raised while she was under steam power, as the hot fumes & embers set the sails alight. After hitting a rock, she became a cable layer, and spent the next few years laying cables connecting Britain & India.

After that, it was downhill. Attempts to refit here and use again as a passenger liner failed, she was then used as a floating advertisement. Eventually she was scrapped, a process that took 18 months due to her size and strength.

The ship otherwise was a technical marvel, she was the fastest across the Atlantic, as well as setting a record for both being the heavy thing moving on earth, and carrying the post people ever record at the time. She was so big, that special docks had to be built and New York harbour had to be dredged so she was able to enter. Perhaps she was too ahead of her time, but she lives on as a testament to Victorian Engineering.

We then headed to the little pier just next to it for the clipper service, which took us up to Tower Bridge, which looked stunning lit up in the November darkness.

We then headed up to Camden, had a good older wander through, looking at the various foodstalls and little shops selling tat. James somehow talked me out of purchasing a giant Turkish style lamp, on the pretext we could order online and have it delivered, rather than carrying it with us on the tube. I agreed, and then subsequently forgot all about it. Perhaps that was his plan all along!

We ended up grabbing something to eat at one of the vendors, who I think did Afghan inspired food. (I have tried to find them again on the map, but can't seem to see them there, or on the list of vendors on the internet anymore). It was a bit spicy, but so so delicious, I love trying new food, so was also happy to grab a spoonful of James's when he wasn't looking! (If you're wandering, mine was better!)

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, then headed to the British Museum for the Egyptian exhibition. I saw this fantastic piece of art as we came out of Tottenham Court Road station. It was beautiful with the subtle pinks and blues in it, and I think it was designed to look like a giant icicle? That's what it looked like to me anyway!

The British Museum had an interesting exhibition on Egyptian Hieroglyphs, and how our discovery of the Rosetta Stone allowed us to be able to translate the Hieroglyphs for the first time.

The original Rosetta Stone, famously found by Napoleon's troops, where they were demolishing a fortress, which the stone had been used to build, something which today is a shocking concept! The Rosetta Stone was so important, due to the Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Egyptian Demotic and Greek translation of the same decree all together, allowing historians to be able to translate Hieroglyphs for the very first time with certainty. To think such an important artefact was used a building material is quite beyond me! 

There were also lots of different exhibits, not just of stone, but also of papyrus, with many different designs and texts on them. What amazed me is how something so old can be in such good condition, these are three thousand years old, yet look as good as new! 

I think my question is also, why do we not do this more often? Advertising in the streets now is so boring, why can't we just put up a couple of nice painted Egyptian Hieroglyphic scenes to brighten the place up? I think it would be a lot better than the rubbish we get shown nowadays!

(I've just realised as I am re reading this back during editing that I sound like an old man! But I stand by it!)

There was also this gorgeous cat, sat waiting patiently for its owner. Perhaps it's dinner time, and fish is the main course!

And this was possibly the most interesting item we saw on display. It is an Ancient Egyptian measuring stick, or a ruler if you will. It was 2,500 years old, and would have been used in everyday life. I love this for two reasons.

The first, it's such an everyday object for us, and it would have been used often by its owner. I love that connection between us and our ancestors, so much has changed in life in the past 2,500 years, but both then & now, we still need to measure something! 

The second thing, is the craftsmanship. This isn't just a cheap ruler that this Ancient Egyptian picked up at WHSmith (or it's ancient equivalent). This was beautifully made with care, decorated beautifully, and I think would have meant a lot to it's owner. Possibly it was a gift. Perhaps they had earned a raise and wanted to treat themselves to a beautiful new ruler. Who knows. But I think the previous owner would be amazed to see that their ruler is in a museum, and a 30 something year old blogger is writing about how beautiful it is.

That's how I hope our ancestors could see us. They could see the progress we have made, the progress we continue to make, but that we do what we can to understand them and the lives they led. Yes I'm sure they would be horrified at some aspects of how we life, the fact we waste so much, that our values are different, that we worship false idols (the Kardashians, I'm looking at you!) But at the same time, they would be proud of us. Proud that we are continuing to build bigger and better than before. That for a lot of people, food & water security, peace between people, and modern healthcare are all available to many people of this planet. But it is something we need to keep working on.

Hopefully people in the future will look back at me, sat here on my laptop, and feel the same thing. Hopefully!