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Cutty Sark


Cutty Sark, originally uploaded by Zefrog.

In the past few weeks I seem to have developped the habit of going to sleep the radio on, the World Service. Some nights, when my sleep in lighter than usual, I doze on and off catching snippets of news.

This morning, at 6am, I was suddenly brought to full consciousness by the news that the Cutty Sark was ablaze. I am was quite shocked by the news when I heard it.

I visited the Cutty Sark on my first trip to London (a school trip) about 20 years. I was in my mid teens and it was a first for me in many ways. I still have confused mental images (supported by a few bad pictures) of the inside of the ship. I also seem to remember (perhaps wrongly) that we took a group picture outside her.

Since then, while I was slightly dismissive of her as a tourist attraction, I have also been aware her friendly protective presence every time I found myself in Greenwich.

Thankfully, it seems that the damages are not as extensive as they were originally feared. The ship was undergoing a restauration programme and about 50% of her had been removed. The fire is treated as suspicious.
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