Monday morning and I’m out of the house early to give the cleaner a free rein to wreak the havoc that seems necessary to have a house that doesn’t give the appearance of being lived in by a smelly, old tramp.
It is high water at Hammersmith Bridge which greatly reduces bird-spotting. There were green parakeets in the trees between Hammersmith and Barnes but I’ve seen them before. However, mid-river above Twickenham Bridge was a rara avis. She was not in her full plumage.
Gloriana was built in 2011 for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. She is 88 feet long, takes eighteen oarsmen and four additional crew and about twenty-five passengers. Last month she was at Henley and now I suppose is making her way back to her mooring in St Katherine’s Dock. Two electric motors allow her to travel at up to six knots for around six hours when there are no oarsmen. She looks magnificent, even in mufti.
