Saturday
This weekend, I headed into London to go beachcombing. That’s right. Beachcombing in London. As it turns out, it’s pretty easy to do. You just wait for the tide to go out (which happens twice each day) and then you go mucking through the mud picking up things.
Saturday’s beachcombing was part of one of the London Walks tour offerings. Our tour guide is a staff archaeologist from the British Museum who met us at 11:00 at the Turnham Green tube station and walked us down to the banks of the Thames. Along the way, he pointed out a number of sights and explained how that part of London has changed over the past several hundred years. We spent about 90 minutes wandering the banks looking for shards of pottery. I found a number of things, including a piece of Delftware wall tile from the 18th century, some pieces of medieval roofing tiles, and some Victorian pottery. I also found a number of rocks with holes in them. Evidently, the holes occur naturally, but I haven’t yet figured out how. I do know that the ancients (ok, maybe not ancient, but more than a few years ago) believed that such stones warded off the evil eye. I pocketed a few just in case.
It was actually quite a nice day. Even though the mud was quite deep in places, there were rocks to walk on and some dry spots. As we collected our archaeological treasures, groups of rowers from nearby schools passed by on their training cruises. (Just a note: That last sentence was rife with errors. I’m sure there are proper terms for the rowers in their rowing apparatus but, alas, I do not know them.)
Even though the walk was supposed to end about 1:00, we kept finding things and out guide kept identifying them for us. When we were ready to head back, it turned out that part of the banks upon which we were wandering happen to turn into an island when the tide rises. And sure enough, the tide had begun to rise, leaving us stranded on a small island in the middle of the Thames River. Unfortunately, even though the island upon which we were standing was somewhat higher than the surrounding riverbank, it wasn’t high enough to stay out of the water for long.
So, seventeen of us were stuck on an ever-shrinking island in the middle of the Thames as the tide continued to come in. Our guide called the coast guards who came out and rescued us. On the short cruise back to the dock, we looked back to find that out island was not totally submerged.
Okay, before you begin to think that I’ve fallen in with the wrong crowd and I have begun stranding myself in the middle of the mighty Thames in order to attract attention and get a free boat ride, we really were quite safe all along. We noticed that we were cut off from the rest of the world really rather early in the rising tide cycle. If we really, really wanted to walk around London for the rest of the day with sopping wet shoes we could have walked the ten feet to the other bank. Barring that, we could have walked to a much higher part of the small island, a part that doesn’t submerge. If need be, we could have climbed the trees and waved for help.
As it was, our group was rescued before we were submerged. The whole mood was one of excitement rather than dread. In fact, there was no panic among our group, only some of us taking pictures of the entire thing. The three lifeboat guys (again, I’m sure there’s a proper term) asked us to email them the pictures. It seems that they had never had to rescue a group of seventeen people before and they would like to post some pictures on their website (www.chiswicklifeboat.org.uk).
After my adventure, I needed some lunch (it was fast approaching 2:00). Having a small headache, carrying a backpack loaded with the refuse of centuries past, desiring to sit, and needing a drink with which to take my Advil, I opted for the simple evils of McDonalds.
Later, I did some walking about near Seven Dials, a roundabout in London where seven roads meet. It’s actually a small roundabout and the roads aren’t very busy. There is a large monument there, one dedicated by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, and some interesting shops. I also visited some of the bookstores near Cambridge Circus.
I had dinner at the Sasa Thai Buffet Home Made Thai Chinese Vegetarian restaurant on Greek Street in London. I know this for certain because as I was peering through the window, a man came out and handed me a flyer.
After a bit more walking about, I decided to head back to Stevenage and scrub off my pottery.
Saturday’s beachcombing was part of one of the London Walks tour offerings. Our tour guide is a staff archaeologist from the British Museum who met us at 11:00 at the Turnham Green tube station and walked us down to the banks of the Thames. Along the way, he pointed out a number of sights and explained how that part of London has changed over the past several hundred years. We spent about 90 minutes wandering the banks looking for shards of pottery. I found a number of things, including a piece of Delftware wall tile from the 18th century, some pieces of medieval roofing tiles, and some Victorian pottery. I also found a number of rocks with holes in them. Evidently, the holes occur naturally, but I haven’t yet figured out how. I do know that the ancients (ok, maybe not ancient, but more than a few years ago) believed that such stones warded off the evil eye. I pocketed a few just in case.
It was actually quite a nice day. Even though the mud was quite deep in places, there were rocks to walk on and some dry spots. As we collected our archaeological treasures, groups of rowers from nearby schools passed by on their training cruises. (Just a note: That last sentence was rife with errors. I’m sure there are proper terms for the rowers in their rowing apparatus but, alas, I do not know them.)
Even though the walk was supposed to end about 1:00, we kept finding things and out guide kept identifying them for us. When we were ready to head back, it turned out that part of the banks upon which we were wandering happen to turn into an island when the tide rises. And sure enough, the tide had begun to rise, leaving us stranded on a small island in the middle of the Thames River. Unfortunately, even though the island upon which we were standing was somewhat higher than the surrounding riverbank, it wasn’t high enough to stay out of the water for long.
So, seventeen of us were stuck on an ever-shrinking island in the middle of the Thames as the tide continued to come in. Our guide called the coast guards who came out and rescued us. On the short cruise back to the dock, we looked back to find that out island was not totally submerged.
Okay, before you begin to think that I’ve fallen in with the wrong crowd and I have begun stranding myself in the middle of the mighty Thames in order to attract attention and get a free boat ride, we really were quite safe all along. We noticed that we were cut off from the rest of the world really rather early in the rising tide cycle. If we really, really wanted to walk around London for the rest of the day with sopping wet shoes we could have walked the ten feet to the other bank. Barring that, we could have walked to a much higher part of the small island, a part that doesn’t submerge. If need be, we could have climbed the trees and waved for help.
As it was, our group was rescued before we were submerged. The whole mood was one of excitement rather than dread. In fact, there was no panic among our group, only some of us taking pictures of the entire thing. The three lifeboat guys (again, I’m sure there’s a proper term) asked us to email them the pictures. It seems that they had never had to rescue a group of seventeen people before and they would like to post some pictures on their website (www.chiswicklifeboat.org.uk).
After my adventure, I needed some lunch (it was fast approaching 2:00). Having a small headache, carrying a backpack loaded with the refuse of centuries past, desiring to sit, and needing a drink with which to take my Advil, I opted for the simple evils of McDonalds.
Later, I did some walking about near Seven Dials, a roundabout in London where seven roads meet. It’s actually a small roundabout and the roads aren’t very busy. There is a large monument there, one dedicated by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, and some interesting shops. I also visited some of the bookstores near Cambridge Circus.
I had dinner at the Sasa Thai Buffet Home Made Thai Chinese Vegetarian restaurant on Greek Street in London. I know this for certain because as I was peering through the window, a man came out and handed me a flyer.
After a bit more walking about, I decided to head back to Stevenage and scrub off my pottery.
posted by Matthew Reames at 3/14/2005 07:47:00 AM
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