It Is Actually Diana's Day Off,

but she has been asked to help in the trial and operation of a new checkout system,

it will just take an hour or so, glad rags on, and we were off,

 the store is in Greenwich, so we thought we would start our day there, on to the number 54 bus it was then, past Peter Pan's Pool,

and we were making good time,

the weather, although bitingly cold was so nice, almost clear blue skies,

time for a selfie!

we were soon hurtling past Catford bus garage,

and into Catford itself, past the gayly painted night club,

and the Catford cat,

I know I keep saying it, but as far back as I can remember, that is in the late 1960s,

this building has either been empty or being renovated, I wonder if it will ever actually be open?

we caught a 180 bus in Lewisham to go to Greenwich,

and went to the covered market for a look around,

a globe of stretched people,

inside not as many stalls as usual, but then it is a Tuesday, so not really a market day,

the Now You See Me 2 pub, it was used as a backdrop in Now You See Me 2, a film we both enjoyed by the way,

you can see how few stalls are here,

at this end of the market food stalls,

this looked interesting, a shop specialising in paper cutting, the picture in the front window,

had just been sold for £1,200 according to the label,

the Chinese French Citron van doing a good trade,

time for a pose,

from both of us,

just one,

or two more,

well I just had too!

we did not eat breakfast before leaving, so the Cutty Sark café it was then,

we were lucky and grabbed a table with a view of the street,

the inside of the café,

another quick pose,

from both of us,

our view of the High Street,

breakfast was served,

Diana's omelette was huge!

the meal with a coffee and a tea came to £17.00, after our meal Diana went to the store, I decided to take a walk along the riverside,

and there she was, the Cutty Sark,

looking into the rigging I saw a couple of chaps working,

way too high for myself, I really do not like heights,

this is more me,

looking back to one of the local pubs, but it was not yet opening time,

it is making me feel giddy just looking up,

enough already, I started my walk,

past the entrance to the pedestrian tunnel under the River Thames,

and the prow of the Cutty Sark,

one of the river taxis we will be on later,

looking across the river at the booking office for the water taxis,

that is the footpath I will be walking along,

I will go as far as the power station, I do not want to be too far away when Diana calls to say she has finished work for the day,

to the left the coaling station where ships would unload coal, on the right two of the four chimneys of the power station,

I was going to walk past the college,

as I continued towards it I could hear the sound of musicians from the music department where people were learning, normally we visit on a weekend when there are no students, but today lots of them were here practising,

I passed the Trafalgar Tavern,

getting nearer to the coal station,

I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of tons of coal were delivered here?

there is a part where you can not walk by the river,

the walkway has the pubs signs hanging over it,

lots of them,

on the wall a painting of this stretch of the river,

from the Cutty Sark,

to the power station,

all of the colours, but no green door,

getting near to the power station,

which is next to Trinity Hospice,

crikey, is that the time? the pubs will be open soon!

looking at the date, 1616, the building has quite a history,

nearly there,

looking back to the bridge that the coal wagons would use,

and to the wall,

but not just any wall, by a strange coincidence it is a story about a boy named Stan, the work is by Amanda Hinge and titled Thames Tale, 

but who is Stan in the story? Amanda writes, 'Bizarrely enough Stan wasn’t based on any one boy in particular, but when it came to installing the work with a rather eccentric and lovely Welsh builder Bill, an old man was taken to visit the wall and see the work being installed and his name was Stan, He lived in the Huguenot hospice next door and had lived in Greenwich all his life, He had worked on the docks many years ago and used to like walking along the river.'

I normally find things lurking me after a drink or two, so this Stan and myself have a little in common!

regrettably the raised sculptures have lost a lot of their vibrancy since our last visit when we saw them, back in July 2016,

hopefully they will be restored to their former glory,

I carried on,

until I reached the Cutty Sark pub,

and started to retrace my steps, this barge being maneuvered,

this one at anchor, the O2 in the distance,

the barge turned around, the tug was on his way,

back towards the coaling station,

as an Uber taxi made its way downstream, I suddenly felt thirsty, and by shear happenstance,

I was passing the Trafalgar Tavern,

a comfy seat and table that over looking the river, what could be better?

a pint of larger and lime,

just what I needed as I watched the river craft go about their work,

I thought this was rather neat, I am not sure if they are original or reproductions, the radiators, just as I was contemplating another pint Diana called, so I was off to meet her at the river taxi ticket office for the next part of our day out, if you want to see the rest of our day just hit the 'Older Posts', button on the bottom right of this page.