Greenwich, London

Wednesday 7th August was a little cooler, but still no doubt warmer than Orange at the moment!
We spent the day at Greenwich, which Dave has been particularly looking forward to, for the Greenwich Observatory is where the original timekeepers of John Harrison are kept.  Dave's mother had told him that her father (Aubrey Harrison) and his father and their relatives had always told members of the family that they were related to the inventor of the marine chronometer, John Harrison. Whilst we were at Greenwich we were extremely fortunate to hear a talk about the life and work of John Harrison.  When we spoke to the guide, Mike, he said that he believed that there were currently no direct descendants of John Harrison, but he suggested that there may be descendants of John's brother, James Harrison, and that we would do well to check the London Clockmakers Guild / Horological Scoiety for further information. Hope you like the photos:

Dave tries on the armour at Greenwich:

 Emily is ready for battle!

 Can you spot the portrait of Emily?

 This is a bottle which is about 800 years old. When it was opened, the contents were still intact.

 Here are the contents:  human hair, nails .... and human urine.   These things were sealed in the jar and the jar was placed at the door of a house to keep evil witches away!

 Walking up the hill to the Greenwich Observatory, where John Harrison's timekeepers are kept, and of course, the location of the Prime Meridian.  (What's that?)

 John Harrison's first timekeeper.  He was trying to build the very first clock that could stay accurate on a ship at sea, so the sailors could calculate the position of their ship.

 Here is the second timekeeper he built, but he still wasn't happy with it.

 Dave and Emily with a portrait of John Harrison.

 Here is the third timekeeper, but this one was the most troublesome, so John Harrison kept working.

 Finally , here is John Harrison's 4th timekeeper; this was the one that worked even better than he had hoped.

 Here are people waiting to stand on either side of the Prime Meridian of the world.

 Emily stands astride the Prime Meridian, with one foot in one time zone and her other foot in another.

 We all take a turn!