May 2, 2008

• Mean Time
  
  You probably thought I was going to talk about how unkind or crabby I’ve been. Instead, you can hear about our trip to Greenwich, home of GMT! Why exactly is it called “Greenwich Mean Time”?  Because it’s the average time (the mean)? Because all the astronomers were a surly lot? Because they were waiting around to do something else and made longitude in the meantime?
  
  In case you are wondering what and where Greenwich is, I shall tell you. It’s part of London (the eastern part) and houses the Old Royal Observatory where the British in all humility decided that they were truly the center of the world and made 0 degrees longitude run right through their hilltop observatory.  This line divides the earth into the Eastern and Western hemispheres. 
  
  

  Being in two hemispheres can affect the brain…
  

  
  

  
  

  
  It was a rainy day, which was ironic because we had postponed this trip twice due to rain, and both of the previous days turned out to be fine. This day, which was supposed to have a bit of rain was rainy all day.
  
  We started out by taking a river cruise from Westminster Pier (where Big Ben and the London Eye are) to the Greenwich Pier. 
  
  

  
  

  
  
  We trudged through the rain which didn’t seem to bother the birds, as you can see in this excellent shot taken by Wit of an English Robin. (Not the Hardyman kind–ha ha.)
  
  

  
  

  
  
  The land where the Old Royal Observatory sits is on a steep hill.  That’s Little Miss getting a piggy back ride and LibbyK with the only umbrella.
  
  

  
  

  
  
  Once we reached the top, we could synchronize all our watches to the correct time, as they have a handy clock outside. Underneath the clock, they have standard measurements in metal so that you can also whip out your ruler to make sure that your inches are truly an inch long.
  
  

  
  

  
  
  Of course, we all got to straddle the Prime Meridian (which future, self-proclaimed Geography teacher Gockle kept mispronouncing as “The Prime Meh-DEER-ee-an”).
  
  

  
  

  
  
  Thankfully, there were some inside bits to the day like touring the top floor of the observatory, designed by Christopher Wren (the same guy who did St. Paul’s in London–Dome Boy) and looking through an old-fashioned telescope. 
  
  

  
  

  
  
  And seeing Pluto.  (Yes, this was what we saw in the telescope!)
  
  

  
  

  
  The Royal Observatory doesn’t observe as much anymore due to all the smog and such in London. They moved their headquarters to–Cambridge!  Actually, our yard is adjacent to the observatory property. I wondered if we were also at zero degrees longitude, but it turns out that Cambridge is at .45 degrees. We are close, though!
  
  When we finished at the observatory (which also had lots of seagoing thingies and displays), we went to The National Maritime Museum.  There were lots of boat things and sea things and some interactive displays involving water.  I liked this picture.
        
  
  

  

  We felt we had sufficiently explored Greenwich, so we headed back into London where Hunter, LibbyK, and I wandered around in the Victoria and Albert Museum (art museum) and TGD, Wit, Gockle, and Little Miss went to the Science Museum across the street for about an hour or so.  We ended our day at that traditional English dining establishment, Pizza Hut.

  Have you had any Mean Time lately?

  
  

  • 1:43 pm
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