A working river

I've been pondering over this blog topic for a little too long this week. I've been trying to be inspired by a water source other than the Thames. Trying to think of another stream, creek, bog to write about other than the blatantly obvious river that has woven its way into my every day life over here. I've given in - the Thames and all its beauty, power and history has got the better of me. It’s a river that has framed my time here in London. I've cycled along its banks from Westminster to Richmond, experienced the thrill of a jet boat ride from Embankment to Canary Wharf, cheered for rowers in the Head of the River competition, walked along the river path from Southwark Cathedral to the Tate more times than I can remember and been inspired by the iconic Thames barrier that controls the ebbs and flows of the longest river in England.

Recently the Thames has started to weave its way into my work life. In fact I'd say in planning for a certain event in a little over a years time this river is slowly but surely demanding to take centre stage. As a result I've started spending a lot of time with people who work with the river on a daily basis and it is these people who have begun to extend my tourist knowledge of the water that passes through London day in day out. To them the river is many things; a hive of tourist activity, a leisure source for boaters, rowers and the like, a security asset to be protected and more and more a working highway that services London and the towns and cities it passes through in the UK. With a growing passion for sustainability and corporate responsibility the Thames is now being thought of differently - banks are being widened for barges to access more of its canals and locks thereby taking freight off the roads and more piers are being reinstated for ferries to move workers from home to office.

A leaf dropped into the Thames could end up at its rise at Thames Head in Gloucestershire or at the other end in the North Sea depending on its tide that day. On a drizzly rainy day in London I hope my leaf ends up in Richmond just as the afternoon sun breaks through the clouds. I'd sit on the river banks watching it float by.