Happy birthday, Cutty Sark

Launched 150 years ago this weekend, the Cutty Sark was free to visit for Greenwich residents today.

It's the first time I've visited the ship since it was almost devastated by a fire some years ago. Since then it's been rebuilt and its dry dock is now under a glass canopy so that you get right underneath (see extra).

I first visited the Cutty Sark almost 50 years ago on a trip to London with my brother when I was about nine. My Uncle Joss took us to Greenwich and we did all the sights: the Royal Observatory, the Maritime Museum, the Cutty Sark, and we ran through the foot tunnel and up the Island Gardens side, waved at Joss across the river, than ran back. Little did I know then that I would be living within easy walking distance some 25 years later.

(I have a new mobile phone, a Samsung S10, so I tried out some of the camera features - this wide angle view is quite effective, I think.)