Thames Water

It's looking like it's going to be a bad summer for sailing. What with work pressures and Open University course I can't see a free weekend till the end of September, when it might be too cold to be doing this:

For this wasn't taken in sunny Turkey when the temperature is in the thirties but here on the Thames.

The problem is the blocks of flats by the Thames creates all sorts of weird wind effects so that sailors can go from downwind to upwind in a few metres.

You might ask - well what about the water quality? It's certainly on my mind but they do keep saying not just that its much better than it used to be, but that its one of the cleanest rivers flowing through a major city.

There are also lots of fish, with flocks of birds diving into the water and sometimes direct sightings like these (anyone know what these are - the water was alas rather murky):

Its must be a rich mix, with all the mud and organic waste. If you ever wondered what happens when a tree floats down the river, well it gets picked up by the fire department, like this: