GMT

Greenwich Mean Time: 2 October (Blog-in-progress)

Though we were a bit snotty about Thom Gorst’s architecture lectures on the QM2, they have directed at least two of our UK visits: the one to Bath (future posting), and this one to Greenwich, to see some of Christopher Wren’s buildings (which are now occupied by Greenwich University and the National Maritime Museum and, on the day of our visit, a cast of thousands for the next Caribbean Pirates, starring Johnny Depp) and the Royal Observatory. But first, a note of irritation; the commentary on the boat to Greenwich was presented by a droll Cockney, who claimed to belong to a family of Thames’ watermen and intimated that he was living in a state of penury, which would be alleviated if the passengers would make donation at the end of the voyage, enabling him take a holiday in the Bahamas. A donation in this context did not seem appropriate. When it came for us to disembark he took enormous umbrage, suggesting that our mean spiritedness was typical of down-underers. It spoilt what otherwise was a splendid excursion, demonstrating the slow transformation of London’s waterfront from dockland to apartmentland.

Greenwich encapsulates what London must have been like at the time Wren. The grounds in which his buildings are located are stunning; particularly interesting is Royal Observatory (with its wonderful views over Thames and towards London with Hampstead Heath in the background) and through which the Greenwich meridian passes—and which has been such a significant force in world navigation . It is hard to believe that a mere line in a Greenwich Park can have a profound impact on our time of day. But as the exhibits at the Royal Observatory’s Time Museum demonstrate, had not scientists worked out how to calculate latitude, any form of precise navigation would have been impossible. And we would have still been in England, up-over, not downunder.