London. My map says I am in London. The TV says I am in London. The
Internet says I am in London. But, what if there were no GPS, map, TV,
or Internet? What if I were floating in a boat on the middle of the
sea 300 years ago. Now the question becomes impossible to answer.
Latitude, how far north or south of the equator? No problem. The
sextant can accurately tell us that, day or night providing the sky is
clear. Longitude, how far around the globe we are from a set
position? Not a clue. An accurate clock is needed to tell us that,
and 300 years ago none existed that could keep accurate time on a
rocking ship. That was, until John Harrison entered the scene. He
created masterful clocks, masterpieces of mechanics and art that kept
time perfectly while lookin' good. He built his first, the H1 in the
1720s and it is still running today.
Why the history lesson? You guessed it. Today we went to Greenwich to
see the H1, H2, H3 and H4, the clocks Harrison built. The first 3 are
still running, nearly 300 years now. He created a frictionless
escapement he called the grasshopper that reduced friction to the
point no oil was needed, therefore no wearing and no wearing out. So,
I stood outside the glass enclosure watching this magnificent brass
machine keeping accurate time 300 years after his maker first put it
in action. Looking at the clock was like looking into Harrison's mind.
You could see how he thought the problem through, how he solved it and
how he tried to improve with each new clock. You coulld even see tiny
holes he drilled, and then decided he didn't need. Very, very cool.
We had taken the boat down the Thames to Greenwich, the cockney
accented tour guide pointing out all the locations of interest along
the banks. The tide was out, so lots of beach was visible all down
this famous watercourse. We rode the boat on the way back as well, and
got off at Westminister, intent on visiting Churchill's WWII bunker,
but the $20 a piece admission price was too steep for the cursory walk
through we had planned. Instead, we headed for the bus and rode to
Leichester square to scope out discount play ticket vendors more
thouroughly, took a walk to Picadilly Circus, then tubed back to
Westminister to catch the organ concert at 5. Got there 15 minutes
early only to discover it was at 5:45, so we took a walk, returned,
waited in line and entered this grand, historic church. We were
interested in hearing this organ after listening to St. Paul's. We
also had an alterior motive, to see the abbey without having to pay
the $22 each admission fee. The concert was free. I was a little
disappointed I was not going to see Newton's tomb, but the price was a
lttle steep. So in we went and what should be sitting right in front
of me as I sat down? Newton's Tomb. I had thought it was in the
basement but there it was right in the middle of the abbey.
The recital was great. Midevil church with 1950ish Kavaleski on
steroids echoing nonharmonic dischords throughout the grand structure.
As we were walking into the church a somewhat elderly male usher
angrily told Sally that this was not a tour and to put her guide book
away. She had been looking for a place for dinner while standing in
line. After the recital he was shooing everyone out of the church
using the word please a lot, but neither his tone nor the words
wrapped around the please showed he meant it.
We took the tube to a restaurant recommended by our guide, Rick
Steve's and it was excellent. Meat pies, fries and vegetables and free
WiFi to boot.
While we dined the rain settled in for the night, so we donned our
ever present raincoats and walked the half mile to our hotel.
Am I getting old? By the end of the day I am whooped! That overall
body ache tires to the bone tired. Or is it the long days? 6:30 to 11
most days. It is not the clean, fresh air! Europeans have not
discovered that smoking is the cause of their high lung cancer rates,
yet. The air is awash with the smell that is now mostly gone from the
US. You would think with socialized medicine they would make an effort
to lower the costs by initiating an anti smoking campaign and reduce
the number of cancer cases, but I have seen no evidence of such. So,
the stink continues.
Chuck
No comments:
Post a Comment