Geographically, Greenwich is quite close to us - just past Canary Wharf across the river - but logistically, especially at the weekend because of routine Tube disruptions, it is a nightmare to reach. Nonetheless, we were saved by the Overground, and we made it there in due time.
Greenwich is a neat little riverside port town; well, at least is was in the past - I don't know if you could call it a town now that it has been swallowed up by greater London. But its charm lies in its atmosphere: with the Cutty Sark moored in the harbor and the brick terraced houses with hand-blown windows transports one back two hundred years. Well, on a few streets at least.
Just off the High Street, Cutty Sark masts in the distance
Aside from the charm of Greenwich proper, there is a large university with a broad, beautiful campus, a vast, hilly park, and several museums: the Queen's House, the Maritime Museum, and of course, as everyone knows, the Royal Observatory, the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian. Since we only had the afternoon, we set out through the park and up the hill towards the observatory, since Anna wanted to go to the planetarium and I wanted to see the Meridian and set my watch.
Royal Greenwich Observatory
Royal Greenwich Observatory
GMT, with standard Imperial measurements beneath
Now that's a tree!
Oliver Squirrel says, "Please, Anna, can I have some more?"Of course, almost all of London's museums are free - which is awesome - but the Observatory charges a fee to enter the Meridian Courtyard, home of the Prime Meridian and Greenwich's moneymaker. Of course, loads of stupid tourists (myself included) want to have their photograph taken standing in both hemispheres, so the courtyard is quite popular. Of course, I queued up along the zero-degree meridian too and had my picture taken, standing in both hemispheres.
Left foot Western, Right Eastern.
Left foot Western, Right Eastern.
Anna & I, in our respective hemispheres
It's so English to queue along the meridianThe meridian is the hallmark of the observatory, and not only is there a line on the ground to mark it, but also a bright laser that shoots through the sky, marking the meridian. They say it goes for 15 miles at night, but because it's always cloudy here I don't think it often gets past the foot of the hill.
Meridian of the 21st century.
Meridian of the 21st century.Of course, being at the observatory makes you think about all this meridian business. Why did the British Empire get to say, "Right chaps, we'll just make a line here in the middle of jolly Greenwich and that'll be the basis for the maps of the world"? Who gave them the right to cartographic hegemony?
Well, the Observatory exhibit gives quite a good answer for that. For the sea navigators of the past, traversing the world's oceans was a tricky business. Determining latitude was a breeze, because all you needed was an astrolabe and a bit of astronomic knowledge and you could determine how far north or south you were on the Earth's surface. Determining how far East or West you were, however, was a slippery pickle - what was the orientation point for East-West positioning? There wasn't one - determining such things required either the occurrence of specific astrological events, or the precise time with a global orientation point. Obviously the latter option was the better choice, so the English - having such a large navy and a good part of the world which needed controlling - decided to set down the navigational orientation point (the meridian at Greenwich) and spearheaded the task of developing a precise timekeeping mechanism that would function on a ship (up until that point, there were only pendulum clocks, which obviously don't work on a rocking ship), offering a 20,000 pound sterling prize in 1714 to anyone who could develop such a device (which today would be worth about $5 million, a substantial sum). Obviously the English weren't screwing around about this navigation business.
Anyway, with the observatory as the zero point for global East-West navigation and positioning methods, it only seemed natural that Greenwich should also house the standard time that was necessary for ships' clocks to be aligned with in order to calculate longitude, so appropriately Greenwich became both the home to the zero longitude line and the standard time (and they threw in Imperial measurement standards as well, for good measure [no pun intended]).
So thanks to Greenwich, we have standard time and accurate maps. Greenwich has also provided its bit to the English language as well (the most interesting factoid for linguist like myself). Atop the domed cupola on the house at the Observatory, a big red ball sits atop a flagpole. For the last 150 or so years, every day, the ball drops at exactly one o'clock PM. This was done so that the ships on the Thames River below could easily set their clocks to GMT, facilitating accurate navigation. Thus, to be on time was to be "on the ball", which is where the English expression originates.
The Observatory - keeping sailors "on the ball" for decades
Well, the Observatory exhibit gives quite a good answer for that. For the sea navigators of the past, traversing the world's oceans was a tricky business. Determining latitude was a breeze, because all you needed was an astrolabe and a bit of astronomic knowledge and you could determine how far north or south you were on the Earth's surface. Determining how far East or West you were, however, was a slippery pickle - what was the orientation point for East-West positioning? There wasn't one - determining such things required either the occurrence of specific astrological events, or the precise time with a global orientation point. Obviously the latter option was the better choice, so the English - having such a large navy and a good part of the world which needed controlling - decided to set down the navigational orientation point (the meridian at Greenwich) and spearheaded the task of developing a precise timekeeping mechanism that would function on a ship (up until that point, there were only pendulum clocks, which obviously don't work on a rocking ship), offering a 20,000 pound sterling prize in 1714 to anyone who could develop such a device (which today would be worth about $5 million, a substantial sum). Obviously the English weren't screwing around about this navigation business.
Anyway, with the observatory as the zero point for global East-West navigation and positioning methods, it only seemed natural that Greenwich should also house the standard time that was necessary for ships' clocks to be aligned with in order to calculate longitude, so appropriately Greenwich became both the home to the zero longitude line and the standard time (and they threw in Imperial measurement standards as well, for good measure [no pun intended]).
So thanks to Greenwich, we have standard time and accurate maps. Greenwich has also provided its bit to the English language as well (the most interesting factoid for linguist like myself). Atop the domed cupola on the house at the Observatory, a big red ball sits atop a flagpole. For the last 150 or so years, every day, the ball drops at exactly one o'clock PM. This was done so that the ships on the Thames River below could easily set their clocks to GMT, facilitating accurate navigation. Thus, to be on time was to be "on the ball", which is where the English expression originates.
The Observatory - keeping sailors "on the ball" for decades
After a day at Greenwich
