Longitude 0' 0"
Greenwich and Trafalgar
20 August 2006
In theory Sunday was supposed to be the better day over the weekend and it was at least drier than Saturday but a lot grayer.
We had vouchers towards the price of the boat down the Thames to Greenwich, but our train was so late we missed the sailing we wanted and in any case our rail tickets covered the Docklands Light Railway so why pay more, especially as it was looking black over Bill's mother's.
I haven't been to Greenwich in years but the DLR makes getting there a lot easier and you get off within a stone's throw of the Cutty Sark.
I think JJ was a bit disappointed that the boat is quite small, he was expecting something the same size as HMS Belfast. On looking round though he started to realise the hardships that the crew had to contend with to make their ship the fastest tea clipper in the world.
He had a leaflet marked French (So that English people would know what language they were handing out I suppose) and on reading through it I noted that right enough there were no facilities to wash on board. 13 weeks at sea without a hot bath or shower !
With the sky getting ever blacker we walked up past the old Naval College into the park and up the hill to the observatory.
It is hard to believe in this day and age of accurate maps and hand held GPS systems that in 1714 mariners had little idea as to where they were on the ocean. Latitude was a doddle; they could look at the stars but longitude was impossible.
The British government launched a prize of 20 000 pounds to whoever could accurately calculate longitude. It was won by a man named Harrison using a spring driven clock which kept the time of the home port. By using the the sun to calculate local time the mariners could now calculate exactly where they were.
This of course depended as well on charts and now that the secret was out many countries plotted their own using a Zero Line particular to themselves. Paris had its own as did Greenwich.
This brought about confusion and it was finally decided in 1884 that Greenwich would be the official Longitude Zero. The decision was primarily taken in favour of Greenwich because most people were already using British charts anyway.
The French were not happy but today as you drive across France you can see signs up showing the old Parisian Longitude Zero in the form of the Méridien Vert.
Sitting outside eating our sandwiches on the plinth of General Wolfe's statue we heard a rustling in the shopping trolley of a lady sitting on the bench. Next thing a squirrel jumps out with a mouth full of crisps and scampers up a tree. The old girl hasn't seen it yet !
Having clambered hills we headed back into the City to try The Monument again.
It is a climb of 311 steps to the top at a height of 62 metres which marks the distance from the monument to the seat of the fire in Pudding Lane which destroyed much of London in 1666. It is a hard climb but the views are spectacular.
When you get back to the bottom you are given a certificate saying that you have climbed the tallest free standing stone tower in the world. I rather wondered if anybody had ever failed to come down for the certificate.
Time pressed and we were off to the show at Trafalgar Square. We caught the Gandini Project showing off their juggling skills and they were followed by a group of youngsters from Southwark and Lambeth who join together to form the Kinetika Bloco and Music and Dance group. Their drummers were certainly knocking ten bells out of their kit.
The end of the festival was a display of acrobatics on poles by the Duo du Haut. To the accompaniment of two opera singers they climbed their 40 metre poles and swayed on high. Without any form of safety and following a wetish morning I was glad it was them up there and not me.
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