Time and Money

TIME
The last two weekends we have stayed around London. Last weekend we went to Greenwich, where time begins. Well, its the Prime meridian. All in all this simply means that GMT when placed after time refers to Greenwich Mean Time and that the clocks of the world are based on the concept that Greenwich is zero. Apparently its all to do with Longitude. Im not explaining this well am I. OK - last try. We measure East to West distance as longitude around the globe. Greenwich is zero. We (Sydney) is further from zero than say Paris. The further you are from zero, the greater the time difference there is. Some guy from Greenwich worked out how to measure longitude. Which isn't a measure of distance but of time. He created the first accurate clock that didn't use a pendulum (they needed a clock that would work on a ship and pendulum clocks didn't because of the constant movement), instead it used a spring. Every minute of time difference equates to 28km. So theoretically the people in Western Sydney are 2 minutes ahead of the people in Eastern Sydney (give or take a few klms). Confused? Just look at the pictures and smile as if you understand.

BEN WITH AN OLD CLOCK, FROM THE 1800'S

WE LINED UP TO TAKE THIS CHEESY PHOTO. HALF OF ME IN THE EAST AND HALF IN THE WEST. NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT - HOW COME THERE IS A MIDDLE EAST AND NO MIDDLE WEST?

SOMEHOW BEN MANAGES TO GET THE PHOTO WRONG. WATCH WHERE YOU ARE POINTING TO NEXT TIME BEN!!!


There is some other stuff at Greenwich. Heaps of Maritime history. The Cutty Sark was the fastest boat of its time. The observatory was stacked with clocks and stuff, including the clock that solved the Longitude problem. They also had the most accurate clock ever made. Its an atomic clock and is accurate to one second in every 15 million years (which is great because I would hate to be late just because a few million years had passed and my watch couldn't cope). It just goes to show that some people are never satisfied.
BEN WITH CAPTAIN COOK.

RACHAEL AND THE CUTTY SARK.


MONEY
This weekend we went into town to have a look around. We got ourselves to Leicester Square to watch a movie and Covent Garden to look at the shops and the National Portrait Gallery. We also managed to bag a few more Monopoly shots. We have got enough to make half the board and want to collect them all before we go, then make up a personalised souvenir board at home.

THE CULT ENTERTAINMENT MEGASTORE. EVERY NERDY FIGURE AND ACCESSORY FOR STAR WARS, STARTREK, BUFFY, LORD OF THE RINGS ETC...THAT A GROWN MAN COULD WANT. I KNOW THAT SOME OF YOU OUT THERE WOULD APPRECIATE THIS.

RACH AND THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.

KINGS CROSS STATION.

LEICESTER SQUARE.


If anyone has any suggestions for the utility squares, the jail, free parking, passing go or the chance/community chest squares let us know! Plus Mayfair and the Angel Islington are suburbs not streets so we are not sure what to do there.

Next weekend we are hoping to hire a car and drive down South West. If you have any suggestions then let us know. OK, take care everyone.

Ben and Rachael.
XXX