| In Greenwich, you really can know what time it is. And yes, unlike the
contention of the Chicago song from about 1970, one really can
know the time; the measure of time works within a consistent rationally
constructed system whose rules can be accurately described. |
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| Greenwich Time takes on its importance because one day a sea captain realized
that, if he knew the time in Greenwich (good chronometer required) and knew
the time where he was (determinable by measuring the sun's distance along
its daily path), he would know how many miles east of Greenwich was his
ship. As this clock & the accompanying models of British measuring units
are out in the weather, I assume more secure instruments keep the official
time and measures, but these are the ones the tourists get to enjoy. |
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| There are two, matching, spires on Wren's Seaman's Home |
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| The "clock" on one is a clock; that on the other indicates wind
direction. |
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| The highlight of the home (which for over 100 years served as hospital
and home for pensioned and disabled British seamen) is the Painted Hall.
It was conceived as a dining hall, but officials soon found it preferable
to reserve its use to special occasions (we were told the old sailors sometimes
staged food fights & the like, a mode of behavior quite out of keeping
with the surroundings). |
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| And these are shots from the Chapel. |
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| The raised pulpit makes me think of Moby Dick, though Melville's
Father Marple mounted the pulpit via a rope ladder rather than a circular
stair. |
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This curious little dome houses a staircase that leads to a tunnel beneath
the Thames. Perhaps it is time for us, imaginatively, walk that tunnel,
or better, let us boat to the Tower Bridge and the
Tower of London. |
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Greenwich 1 / Greenwich
2 / Thames & Tower of London / Avebury
/ Regents Park / Trafalgar
Square |
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