The Thames Whale

Well, by now most of us have heard the sad fate of the so-called Thames Whale. Usually found in deep northern Atlantic or Arctic waters, a beautiful northern bottle-nosed whale somehow lost its way last week and and slowly wandered up the Thames River in London, tragically losing its life before rescue efforts could safely take it back out to sea.

When it was first spotted in London, a few people asked whether we had seen it pass by our house, which overlooks the Thames. Although we do like to think we are the authority of all things river-related, John and I somehow missed the whale as it traveled north-west past us towards Parliament and Big Ben.

A few days later, however, at about 5:30 pm, I was at home studying when I received a frantic call from John. "Run out to the balcony and GRAB THE CAMERA! They've got the whale on a barge and it's in front of the house RIGHT NOW!". Before I could utter a word, I hung up the phone, got the camera and moved outside to the balcony. John arrived a few moments later, having just been downstairs on the river bank. Apparently, he had gotten off the bus minutes earlier and was on his way home when he noticed a crowd of people descending towards the river, and he ran alongside them to see what the fuss was all about. Although the mammal itself was on the far side of the barge (and not easily seen from where we were), it was still a fascinating procession to witness making its way down the river.

These pictures were taken on Saturday January 21, 2006 at approximately 5:30pm GMT, an hour and a half before the whale lost its battle...