FriendsOfValentines

There are several unusual things about this photograph, which I took an hour ago. One is that it’s a long exposure composite - I’ve left the little ship in but left its blur trailing behind, because it’s the little ship which is the star here. That little ship is the MV Havengore of 1956. I know her as a former hydrographic survey vessel of the @LondonPortAuth - she’s a bit of a star in my eyes because it was the first survey vessel to have an onboard computer, and in a restoration a few years ago the engine rebuild reused parts of a diesel shunting locomotive, which it still utilises today. But you might know her as a carrier of Winston Churchill’s coffin during the state funeral in 1965: after all 350 million people did watch that on telly, apparently. Thats why it’s out tonight, for #veday. Also what’s unusual is @towerbridge tonight stayed open for #mvhavengore for a very long time. Perhaps the longest since its tests, or that time it got jammed (I met the bloke who was operating the bridge when it got jammed by coincidence a few months later — his colleagues still weren’t letting him forget it) but it must have been up for a good 20 minutes. And we stopped, and we watched, in silence. And tower bridge hasn’t gone those colours all together before like that, I don’t think; at least, not that I’ve seen. it just flashed up quickly as @havengore approached. But what is really odd is that there was nobody – else other than the two of us – down on this side of the Thames to see it tonight; if they were, then they were indoors at home in flats behind the path. We watched this little reminder of an age fast disappearing receive this ceremonial salute from the city we and it call home, and heard it sound its lonely horn in gratitude. It was all, unexpectedly, quite beautiful.