No matter how much I keep up to date with work, home jobs etc the weeks fly by and I suddenly realise that two weeks have passed and no posts!  Where do the days and weeks go to?

Needless to say we have all been busy, which is why the days do pass very fast! 

WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY POST!

Jayne and I managed to get out for lunch, after she had had a bad cold.  It was a lovely lunch and we caught up and arranged next month to go Christmas shopping in Nottingham.  We also had dinner with friends and a business dinner as well which was great.  DH and I then went for eye tests with me needing a new perscription for the glasses I have for reading.

Coco has been for her second x-ray and things look good which is a relief. 

Eldest spent three weeks doing his BA (Breathing Apparatus) training for his on-call fire service and came home every night smelling like a bonfire.  He really enjoyed it and passed all aspects of it, so is now on the rota.  This weekend he is training for the road accident equipment.

Youngest is finishing his course up and is down at the training centre in November for a week and then he will hopefully be finished and fully qualified.

DH’s Birthday is tomorrow and I took him away last weekend to London.  We got there Friday evening and had a meal at the hotel and then Saturday we went to visit the National Observatory at Greenwich.  It is one of those places that we always wanted to visit but never got around to.  Fortunately the weather was amazing and in fact it was 18°c!  Here are a few pictures of the day.

The view from outside the Observatory.

The doors which look like mill doors where deliveries would be lifted into are in fact the doors which opened to allow the telescopes to see out!

The above may look like a well but in fact was a shaft where the first telescope was placed to view the stars.

Everything on site is to do with time.

I love old lanterns.

By the time we came out it had clouded over, above.

The main Observatory.

The trees are turning quickly now.

The O2 Arena in the distance and the old power station.

Looking west towards Canary Wharf.

The Queen’s House and Grenwich Park.

This is the Prime Meridian Line where all time is set from.  It was decided to use Greenwich as 72% of commercial trade used sea charts in the 19th Century and they used Greenwich as Longitude 0°.  Which is why we say GMT – Greenwich Mean Time!

Speaking of navigation, ships were unable to sail too far from sight of land as they were unable to find where they were Longitude.  There was a prize of £20,000 for anyone who could solve the problem (around £1million in today’s money) and lots of people had a go.  The problem was to make a clock which would keep time and not be affected by the movement of the ship.  The Gentleman below was Mr John Harrison who was a carpenter by trade but a watchmaker as a hobby and decided to try and solve the problem and he did.

This was Harrison’s second attempt 

His Third Attempt

And as with all things newer models kept getting smaller until the H4 above, a large pocket watch. 

The nice thing about the Observatory was that the various Royal Astronomers who lived here had their families living with them.  The room above and below was used for various telescopes but also for family dinners, celebrations and entertaining various guests.

This is the main Observatory with the big telescope in, with all the different windings.

Sadly it is no longer used and the current Observatory and Science Centre is at Herstmonceux in East Sussex.

We decided to get back to the hotel via the Thames River Boats. 

To get to the Dock we walked past The Cutty Sark.  It was built in 1869 as a tea clipper bringing in tea, a very expensive commodity from China.  Then in 1883 it ran wool and goods to and from Australia completing one voyage in 73 days faster than any other ship. In 1924 it had been restored to its original build and was used as a cadet training ship.  In 1954 it was again restored and brought to the special dry dock at Greenwich having been bought by the National Maritime Museum.

Both sides of the Thames there are many, many wharves where all sorts of goods over the centuries were unloaded from the ships sailing up to London. Now of course many have been converted to very expensive apartments.

We sailed under Tower Bridge with the Shard now in view on the south side of the River.

The London Eye

New Scotland Yard and more lamps!

The wonderful Elizabeth Tower, housing Big Ben, which has been fully restored.

This is one of the old mooring points along the Thames.

The Houses of Parliament with Westminster Abbey in the background.

In the evening we went to dinner at The Ivy near Leicester Square, which is modern British menu and the food was lovely.  Sunday was a chill day and we did a little shopping and arrived home Monday!

Tomorrow The Boys and I are taking DH out for dinner at a lovely pub near our village and then Sunday DH has a swimming event and I am going to try and catch up, AGAIN!!!!  Hopefully next week, but don’t say it too loud, I will try and post every day!!! 

I hope you lovely lot have a wonderful weekend, last one for October 2022!!!!  Oh goodness it’s November next week!!!!! 

Hugs & Love, Susie, DH, Eldest, Youngest & Coco xxxxx