. . .they have a special place in my heart (mel and mig, as well as the little boats!)
from the wraparound balcony view I see many boats
there is a north/east/south view I could sit at the northerly point of the balcony and look west, but for some reason I don't; probably because where I sit (facing east) means I can people-watch the people on the piazza many floors down. . .
the river flows almost directly east/west/east at this point (depending on the tide, well obviously the river is only flowing west/east, but the tidal waters mean the flow of the river goes in the other direction - east/west - when the tide is coming in)
I can see a road bridge and also a bridge that takes the Underground overground and over-river at this point
just under the bridge is a little yacht club - not much used (in all the time I've spent here recently, and over the last year, I have never seen anyone use it actually); there are some moorings - and some little boats
I've been drawing them from various different points of view - close up, as if I had a zoom lens; with the boats on the right one side of the picture, as part of other drawings of the river and the tide pools; and, on the left of the image, if I draw the river path which is lined with trees at this point - where it crosses the piazza
yesterday at just after high tide when the river was full and flowing downstream, a HUGE piece of driftwood (it looked as if it were the whole branch of a large tree) floated past, very close to the southern bank - I wondered if it was like an iceberg? how much of it I could see above water and how much was out of sight below the water?
what I could see was that the driftwood was going to lodge itself amongst the little boats and it duly did
this morning the tide is in and the river is full again the driftwood has gone but it has left its mark: all the little boats are out of their previous alignment
they used to look a little like this:
._
-.
_
_
._
_
_
./
-
_.
_.
\
_.
(you have to imagine that the lines are
the angles of the hull of the boat,
the dots being their mooring buoys)
.the angles of the hull of the boat,
the dots being their mooring buoys)
now they look like this:
._
/
.
.
\
\
\
.
.
/.
/
\.
\.
.
this "event" means that I am now able to draw the boats from a different angle, it means that the ripples on the morning water are making a different pattern, it means that I was wrong earlier yesterday - when I thought I'd drawn all that there was to see in the two weeks that I've been here. . .
this "event" means that I am now able to draw the boats from a different angle, it means that the ripples on the morning water are making a different pattern, it means that I was wrong earlier yesterday - when I thought I'd drawn all that there was to see in the two weeks that I've been here. . .
.
that is
very curious notion!
.
I hope that your day
brings you
something different
and interesting
to experience
very curious notion!
.
I hope that your day
brings you
something different
and interesting
to experience
7 comments:
My dream (well, one of them) is to have a little wooden sailing/rowing boat, and to be able to potter about on the river.
years and years and years ago I went out with two people in succession (not at the same time) and each had a little boat which we pottered around on the river in. . .
I also met the man who invented the wind-up clockwork radio, Trevor Bayliss, and he had a big boat which we pottered around in. . .
and one time, whilst pottering around, a guy taking photos for some kind of speed boat engine had me and one of the boys drive the boat with the particular engine really really fast (downstream of Putney Bridge there is no speed limit) so he could take photos for a magazine article. . .
I've rowed for mixed eights, mixed fours and ladies' eights and fours; been around Turkey in a gulet; sailed in a very big yacht around the Isle of Wight; kayaked in France thru pine forests; canoed in the Canadian wilderness; but I was at my happiest punting thru the water meadows of Cambridge
the simplest things
:-)
'Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing-absolute nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing...'
yea for days that bring something different and interesting to experience!
<----still would like to see some of your drawings....
So when are you going to go down to the little yacht club and take a little boat out on the river :) After all, you have the necessary skills and maybe a little time to spare and wouldn't it be magical to be part of that view yourself? (are any of the the little boats row-able?)
Some time in my life, without being aware of it, I acquired the ability to row quite effectively. I found that it's a wonderful thing to be able to do :)
Curiosity is very good indeed. It's the passport to a different world :)
I 'messed around' in a boat once... but I don't think thats what the good reverend meant.
Not that I'm presuming.
*happy sigh*
I'm just gonna have never ending visions of little boat and leave it at that.
I miss Star.
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