The River Flows On

The theme of military power seemed to continue along the river today. Wherever you look there are reminders of Britain's imperial past.

I found some poignancy in HMS Belfast's scruffy demeanour compared to the sparkling newness of Canary Wharf just several hundred metres east of the ex-warship. The river like a chronolgy of British power; From the military might remembered in moss-moored boats such as the Golden Hinde and HMS Belfast to the new commercial might of the financial behemoths that now tower above the river in the East Docklands.

At the centre of British power is London, and the centre of London is the river.

'How could drops of water know themselves to be a river? Yet the river flows on.'
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)