Going to Greenwich brought back memories from 25 years ago. It was my second time in the UK, for a post-graduate program at LSE. The first time in 1991, I was there for 10 days for a course, and mummy joined me thereafter as we went on a whirlwind holiday in Europe. Obviously we had more time when I was a student to go and explore London, and Greenwich was one of the places we went to.
This is the actual meridian (0 degree longitude) that we are straddling, which divides the world into the eastern and western hemispheres. Fun fact: This was decided by a vote. Before that, different countries used their own capitals as the prime meridian.
More fun facts (from Google): Between 1984 and 1988 an entirely new set of coordinate systems were adopted based on satellite data and other measurements and required a prime meridian that defined a plane passing through the centre of the Earth. The true prime meridian of the world, as agreed by every nation on the planet in 1984, is the IERS Reference Meridian, which is also known as the International Reference Meridian or IRM. The IRM is the only meridian that may now be described as the prime meridian of the world, as it defines 0° longitude by international agreement. The IRM passes 102.5 metres to the east of the historic Prime Meridian of the World at the latitude of the Airy Transit Circle here. The entire Observatory and the historic Prime Meridian now lie to the west of the true prime meridian.
The Shepherd Gate Clock that shows Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Today (Tonight?) is Guy Fawkes Night or as it is more popularly known, Bonfire Night. There we were in the garden of the home where I rented a room during my 10 months, preparing to set off a firework. Singapore had long banned fireworks by then and it was fun to be able to set off a few again.
There are usually fireworks displays, some of which require tickets - like the one at Battersea Park which is where I run sometimes. This year though all of them have been cancelled I suppose, due to the lockdown. It is interesting that the celebration of a foiled plot to blow up Parliament should involve the setting off of fireworks... They used to burn an effigy of the Pope too.
But people want to party and just need a reason. Last night, there was a huge crowd out and about on the eve of the lockdown and it is quite strange that the world is divided into two groups of people. Those who worry about the pandemic and those who don't really care. As I write this, I am also struck by the ongoing election vote count in the US where a similarly stark divide exists. At first I was amazed that Trump was still in the race, but then I realised that this was because I was thinking about it in the wrong way.
There's a famous quote that goes something along the line of "You get the government you deserve". Leaders get elected not really because they are a shining example of leadership, or values that we want to see in government. Rather they get elected if they are able to tap into what people want to hear and Trump is a genius at doing that - the term genius is used purely objectively (you can be an evil genius right?). There are many things dividing society and he has managed to identify enough of them to get into the White House, and may still get there again.
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