The incredible hulk

I met Top Gun at lunchtime and we took the train down to Portsmouth where we went to the stunning Mary Rose museum. They have done a wonderful job of presenting the remains of the Tudor warship alongside the recovered artefacts and showcasing it all on several floors with projected images of several centuries ago. Quite fantastic. In many ways the story of the recovery of the remains over half a century is as fascinating as the speculative accounts of the ship’s demise in 1545. Rather like the Titanic it is the story that entrances; was she stuck by a French cannonball? Did she leave the doors open as she turned into the wind? Had they overloaded her when she was refitted? They can’t even agree on how many decks she had as no drawings survive and eye witness accounts are few and far between.

We just had time for a quick walk around HMS Victory next door. It was literally empty and in some ways this was just as fascinating as the sun was setting and we got to walk around the ship in semi darkness unaccompanied. Ghostly doesn’t do it justice.


We had a couple of beers before heading home. Top Gun was meeting friends in Whitney so I bought a bag of chips to eat on the train. You can’t beat chips after a couple of pints. I started eating them as we walked to the station with the seagulls circling and crying in the dark harbour below us. Good ale and thoughts of home on a sea breeze; that probably hasn’t changed in six centuries…

Lovely Face Time with The Girl Racer tonight, she seems genuinely happy. I did have the piss taken out of me, just because I stabbed myself in the hand with a knife last night whilst trying to unjam a stuck zip on my coat. Easy mistake to make even if you do end up bleeding all over the bedding, the toilet and the kitchen. TSM did a great first aid job whilst telling me off...