The Thames Whale
Its not every day that international news is made on your door-step but the advent of a whale venturing up the river Thames as far as Chelsea bridge has ignited the interest of news agencies all over the world. The first we realised something was going on was last night when we were disturbed by police boats scanning the banks of the river with spot-lights outside our home, it was clear that they were looking for something on the banks and a quick look on the internet soon enlightened us to the cause of the disturbance. Already people are wondering why this has generated so much interest. I think its simple, with the news constantly full of war, terrorism and natural disaster here is a story which can end happily and people hope it will, all over the world people have their fingers crossed for the whale, as do we and good luck to it I say. We could use a happy ending in these cynical times.
I can’t help but wonder if it wasn’t on some sort of aquatic-mammalian protest mission on behalf of its species against our destruction of its environment? If so its probably a good thing we can’t understand whale-sound as it could be held for 28 days without charge having passed within the Whitehall exclusion zone.
Update : (21/01/06 19:43) - Sadly the whale has died on its way to the open seas. A big disappointment for everyone I’m sure. Such a shame.
why do we care?
well, whales are pretty big. swimming in a bog river or not, they’re hard to disguise.
from what i read, it’s the first recorded case of a whale in central london - ever.
so, big news.
and, why shouldn’t we try to save such an awesome creature?
Oh I agree, we should have at least tried to save the whale. Magnificent creature that it is, however it is not the first time that a whale has come up the Thames. In the 17th century there were two such events, one in 1658 marking the death of Cromwell and also in 1691. Often considered a portent of doom…