The Longitude Leap

Greenwich

What time is it?

With Thomas seeing Pluto through a 16th century telescope

Harrison's final design

Part of the Cutty Sark crew

Feeling very seedy this morning it must be the late nights, long days and all the excitement taking its toll. Counteract that with a cup of tea and by wearing my new shirt from the British Museum.

My chum Jane is back on the tourist trail and we head for Greenwich. The sun is shining and we jump on the light rail, yet another excellent transport option in London. Greenwich greets us and our first hurdle is to navigate to the top of the hill without getting caught up in all the fences for the building of the equestrian centre for the Olympics.

We stand, dance and perform on the longitude line much to the amusement of the French school boys. Then into the Flamsteed House and the Octagon Room. I make a new friend Thomas, a jolly chap and he shows me Pluto through a 16^th century telescope, extraordinary.

Then the big event, I have been waiting to see these since 1995 when I read a book about the quest to measure longitude accurately. It seems dreamlike to see Harrison’s intricate and complicated time machines in real life.

Onto the exhibition of Royal River at National Maritime Museum. Exquisite paintings and displays of the Thames during different royal events. Learn a lot about how usage of the Thames and London have evolved together.

This is followed by the Cutty Sark more opportunities for silly photos and a pretty amazing boat as well. The boat worked from 1869 to 1922 and was so fast she even once overtook a cruise liner. Started out bringing tea back from China and in later years went to Australia to collect wool.

Just for something different we walked under the Thames in a tunnel built in 1902 to allow dock workers to move between the two sides of the river.

Then onto Canary Wharf to check out the gigantic office building’s. Wonder what their intranets are like.  Loved watching the masses of people heading home at Canary Wharf Station.