Thames RIB Experience - review

Had a really great time on Saturday, my folks arrived early to pick up Thomas (baby-sitting duty) enabling Flyingpops and I to head off into London, not as commuters this time, but as tourists (which makes a very nice change in my case)...once we had done the journey up (went to Charing Cross), we started off with a leisurely GBK in Covent Garden -

- I had the Blue Cheese, Flyingpops had the Veggie and Camembert (which refused to stay in one piece, so highly was it stacked with vegetarian goodness) then we had a little stroll around the area, checking out Trafalgar Square -

- where they had a ship in a bottle on the fourth plinth -

- and I got *very* lucky with the light for this shot -

- which ended up looking almost HDR (but wasn't, obviously) -

- and felt sorry for the poor (unable to pose) tourists visiting - as all the lions were surrounded by giant tarpaulin covered fences (I snuck the lens behind one) to get a cheeky picture...we then strolled down to Embankment (passing hoards of unused Boris bikes) -

- to our destination, the Embankment Thames Clipper pier -

- which, if anything, seemed to be busier on the weekend than during the week...The right hand end of the pier was turned over to the check in/dressing area of the RIB experience -

- so we went ahead and checked in (being told - contrary to the clear instructions on the email confirmation - that we should have bought our original vouchers with us, but they managed to smooth it over with "head office") and then discovered that the entire river had been closed by the Thames Harbour Master because today was the day of the Great River Race! They admitted that had they realised they would have asked everyone to re-book on a different day, at this announcement a large group of men (a well behaved stag party) all paraded off to the pub, after leaving a mobile number, and we hung around on the pier watching the odd procession of rowing boats parade past (to cheers and encouragement from all the spectators watching from the foot-bridge above -

- well, I say we, as soon as Flyingpops realised the pier was slightly rising and falling (she was on it for about ten minutes before noticing) she suddenly felt horribly sick and ran back to terra firma (not a good indication of things to come)...! Anyway, when the last of the stragglers hauled themselves under the Hungerford Bridge (about half an hour later) -

- the two RIBs were able to return to the pier (having been stuck up by the O2 Arena, complete with passengers, for the entire race duration), a quick phone call to the Stag do to summon them back later, we were handed *very* waterproof coats and lifejackets ("Don't pull the red toggle or we will charge you twenty five pounds to re-charge the cylinder") -

- (modeled here by Flyingpops) and then we were loaded onto the boat(!) -

- and then (much to Flyingpops relief) we were off(!) -

- starting with a quick burn down, past the Houses of Parliament and the O2 -

- learning that the two bridges either side are painted the colours they are to match the themes of Parliament and the House of Lords (same thing with the gazebos where the members and peers nip out for a smoke) -

- spotted St Thomas' (where baby Thomas got his name) -

- and then zoomed off for the first of several high speed runs (to the theme music to James Bond) I managed a few shaky shots as the London landmarks vanished past us at incredible speed -







- (past the office) -

- past the O2 -

- and up to the Thames Barrier where we stopped and turned around -

- and absolutely blasted back the way we came -

- the driver demonstrating that RIBs can still operate at a 45 degree angle by pitching us towards immovable objects (including the bank) at about 70 miles per hour and saving us from dismemberment and subsequent drowning only at the last possible moment -

- my goodness, this thing really had some power, and sat as we were, mere inches from the water it was staggeringly exhilerating...oh, and I can confirm (thanks to our drivers habit of deliberately crossing the wake of other vehicles, pitching us into the air and splashing us with lots of water, that the Thames is indeed a tidal river - the taste is distinctly salty...yum... >;P

Worth every penny, great, *great* fun... ;)

Summer River Cruise down the Thames - Summer 2001

Been going through a few *very* old pictures just lately (just tidying up and sorting), and came across some pictures from the very dawn of the (popular) digital camera age, having borrowed my Dad's cutting edge Fujifilm MX-1500 for the occasion (I was still using a point and shoot 35mm at the time), which started with a coach trip (although quite how Flyingpops' folks managed to drag her onto it, I will *never* know)... ;)

So, please set your wayback machines to the truely magnificent summer of 2001 and come with me to the glittering metropolis that is the City of London, still hung over from the Millennium celebrations, for a cruise down the river Thames...starting at the (recently useful) Thames Barrier which isn't quite so shiny now -


- around the (doomed) Millennium dome (now the thriving O2) listening to the guide telling us how it hadn't quite been possible to remove all the toxic waste from the surrounding areas during redevelopment -

- past the place (how spooky to see it here) I had absolutely no idea I would end up working -One Canada Square (now, of course, utterly lost in a forest of equally impressive companions, and soon to be joined by several taller ones!) -

- and along the river -

- under Tower Bridge (ooh!) -


- past HMS Belfast (which has managed to hang onto it's name and resist sponsorship, thank goodness) -

- the Tate Modern (complete with failed wobbling Millennium Bridge, you can clearly see the scaffolding in the second shot towards St. Paul's..hehe...!) -


- under Blackfriars Station/bridge (which would be, again unknowingly, my route to work in Kings Cross for all those years, really don't miss the Thameslink line ;) -

- followed by a trip on the "Millennium Wheel" (as it was known at the time, now known as the "London Eye", of course) in probably the best possible conditions...


...most suprising to me is that a number of these pictures I am actually still really very happy with (even today being 50,000+ shots practice further down the line towards being an "enthusiast")...

Anyway, I'll post a couple of shots from the "Millennium Wheel" itself when I get to them, and perhaps a few more (if I find any interesting ones) as I continue forward through time...

London Flood Risk map - check your postcode

So, this is where I used to work (the map comes from the environment agency "Flood risk" map) showing what would happen (in dark blue) if local rivers breached their banks, and what would happen (in light blue) if there was an "Extreme flood"...

...pretty safe in Islington then, even though they do have the odd canal...Anyway, according to rumours going round "the Wharf" at the moment, the tidal surge is due to hit the barrier at about 1600hrs...now, compare the above map to where I am currently sat -

- oo-er! Rather a stark difference, however, note the purple lines, these are flood defences designed to stop us all drowning like rats in the London underground on the way home (just to serve us all right for working on the London Floodplane)...included among them is the mighty Thames Barrier (as I mentioned already), which gives London an odds of flooding of 1:2000 years (about 0.05% per year), add to that the fact that the surge is about 8 inches lower at the moment than expected previously (according to the latest measurements), and we will probably be just fine...goodness knows what the Romans used to do though, all get into boats probably... ;)
Anyway, if you want to check your postcode for the possible need to swim back home from work tonight, here is the postcode checker...

Thames Barrier Raised

Well, so this morning we are facing "Extreme danger to life and property", peering out the window I'm afraid the only sign of anything untoward occuring is the obvious sight of the Thames Barrier being raised (if you click that picture I have put a note on the flickr page to show you where to look), and they hadn't even put all of it up when I took this photo, although looking out the window now it does appear to be stretching all the way across...haven't checked the news yet, but the tidal surge was supposed to strike the east coast at about 8am, guess it will take a couple of hours to work it's way all the way up the Thames, pictures later on if Canary Wharf goes underwater (although it's not going to get my feet wet as I'm on the 20th floor)... ;)

In other news, had a bit of a panic on the tube today thanks to a bit of slightly unusual behaviour - just as the doors were closing at Bermondsey someone (just out of the corner of my eye, as I was reading my copy of Metro at the time) appeared to throw a large rucksack onto the packed carriage and then walked away! My mind immediately ran along a very unpleasant fantasy whereby the rucksack started smoking, everyone panicked (followed by mass death and destruction) I looked around for an emergency button and couldn't see one anywhere, looked around to see if anyone else was worrying and then noticed a very small backpacker sat on the floor on the *other side* of the door reaching between someones legs to get a book out of a side pocket...Grrr...