Saturday, January 06, 2007

River Life


Happy New Year!

One of my favourite quotes comes from The Wind in the Willows. As Ratty introduces Mole to the river he says "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -- absolute nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats". It is of course so true.

Almost all the action of the book takes place beside the River Thames, which I can now see gliding gently past my new flat.

The river is fascinating, ever changing. Tides come and go, birds flock and feed, clouds rush by, while flurries on the water show gusts of wind. This afternoon we saw a melancholy Christmas Tree - floating upstream as the tide was in full flood. If I wait a few hours I'll see it come back down again.

I love watching it so no doubt more river stories in the future.

Anyhow, hope you all had great holiday breaks!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been staring at this pic for a while trying to figure exactly where it is. My guess is looking West towards Puney with Putney railway bridge in the foreground. I hope I am right as I used to live in Putney and rowed that stretch a lot. I like your blog and have added you to my blog roll. Please feel do the same if you feel so inclined but no obligation.

JP said...

Hi Turinas,

Yes absolutely right. Its the view west ie upriver from wandworth / putney boundary taken from the south side of the river - on the left is wandworth park.

You rowers seem very keen - I see them out practicing early on saturday and sunday mornings - very impressive.

And I enjoy your blog too - will add a link