High Summer on the Thames

As I write, the cruise ship ‘Silver Wind’ slips past Greenwich on her way up to HMS Belfast in the Pool of London – a regular port of call for ships in the Summer.

Likewise, the ‘World’ came to Greenwich Ship Tier, a residential ship for the super-rich. Cutty Sark Gardens became a cosmopolitan eating house for visitors to Maritime Greenwich – stalls for those who prefer not to eat in our town centre eating houses!
Across the river, the Isle of Dogs is sprouting skyscrapers as investors flock to London prior to Brexit. Canary Wharf and the Square Mile compete with each other for punters with cash to spare.
When we first came to Greenwich some 50 years ago, our view across the marshes were full of empty docklands as containerisation was not welcome here. By chance my sketch of the Greenwich Peninsula was the site of the first container wharf – although there wasn’t adequate space to store the land-hungry boxes.

Part of the site contains Deverells Shipyard, its floating dock serving the ever-growing demand for maintenance of the ever-increasing fleets of tourist boats that now throng central London. Victoria Deep Water Wharf became an aggregate hub for all the massive development sites and, as I write, a new hub is under construction to advance this facility.

Beyond lies the great whale washed ashore, serving as a music hub: the O2 deserves a second look as a retail hub on a mezzanine floor wraps around the hole in the dome which lets out the foul air of the Blackwall Tunnel!

I spotted the steam tug Portwey undergoing work on her historic hull. She can still be seen under steam on her brief outings on the tideway – she sits on a pontoon in the Royal Docks awaiting a permanent home.

I must thank Rob Powell for his colour photos extracted from the splendid calendar which he publishes every year. He must have been very vigilant to see Portwey at Tower Bridge and there’s a grand shot from the Wolfe statue in Greenwich Park of the ‘Silversea’ cruise ship showing the Canary Wharf and developments in construction beyond.

A brief message to those on board the Yacht ‘Nova’, half way around the UK – BRAVO!! It seems a long way from Oxford and St. Katharine’s

Still time to catch a workshop or two…