Out on the River

That's where I was yesterday afternoon, seeing London from the water. A colleague who lives in East London had a party at his flat, and several of us decided to travel there via the river. There are passenger boats that run routinely all up and down the Thames, and when they're on time, they're great. Unfortunately yesterday's boats were running behind schedule so we wound up cooling our heels for a while before one arrived, but still -- it was a scenic journey.

Before I get to that, though, let me talk about the morning.

I read for a while -- a recent biography of the Internet billionaire Peter Thiel, who I find both mysterious and repellent -- and then I took Olga for a walk. We hadn't been to the Heath in ages, so I decided to head in that direction.

We did a shorter Heath walk than we routinely did when Olga was younger, and it seemed to suit her well. We went to the West Heath, where she chased squirrels (sort of) and gnawed on her muddy tennis ball...

...and then we went to Golders Hill Park, where she made a beeline for her favorite place, the "stumpery," which is often full of squirrels and pigeons (and yesterday, rats). Lots to see there.

 She had a great time and didn't seem to be unduly sore when we got home, so I was happy to see that walks to the Heath are still not out of the question.

They do, however, take a lot of time. Olga moves more slowly than she used to, doing lots of painstaking sniffing around at every tree and post, and by the time we got back to the house I was worried I was going to miss the riverboat to the party. So I left Dave to bathe the dog, changed my shoes and zipped off to the tube.

As it turned out, I would have gotten there on time even if the boats were on schedule, and given their tardiness I didn't need to worry at all.

When the boat finally did come, we all bought a bottle of prosecco from the bar (Yes! There's a bar!) and enjoyed the view from within the comfortably heated passenger area with cushioned seats.

Remember Oliver's Wharf? I photographed it a couple of years ago from the street side. It was interesting to see it again from the water.

We also got a good view of the damaged O2 Dome, its roof recently shredded by Storm Eunice. Looks like they've trimmed away the tattered canvas (or whatever it is) and I assume they'll replace it with some new roofing at some point.

I stayed at the party a couple of hours and left just before 8 p.m. I felt like an old man, leaving so early, and then I got home to find Dave snoozing in his recliner and Olga already in bed!