Today it was a super low tide on the River Thames and so I got up very early to head on down to see what treasures it might yield. As always, I had that lovely sense of anticipation as I approached the Thames foreshore.
The beauty of mudlarking is that you never know what you will find, but you know that you WILL always find something, even if it is a single beautiful piece of pottery with a pretty design on it. With mudlarking (searching for pieces of history along the banks of the River Thames), you are generally searching for older pieces of our past - clay pipes, coins, bullets... evidence of the lives of people from the London of the past - long gone. Tangible pieces of lives from sometimes hundreds of years ago. Today we did find some super pieces of history, but the River Thames does not only hold the secrets of olden times. Within its currents, there are many fragments of modern day lives too, and it is these modern mysteries that I would like to focus on.
Today the River Thames gave me three mysteries to ponder on. I wonder if you might be able to help me solve them.
Ok, here goes. Mystery number one is a message in a bottle that was sitting there alone on the foreshore ( I have to admit, the last thing I was expecting to find today). It was in a small bottle, with tape sealing the lid, so obviously the person who wrote it wanted to make sure it stayed waterproof.
The beauty of mudlarking is that you never know what you will find, but you know that you WILL always find something, even if it is a single beautiful piece of pottery with a pretty design on it. With mudlarking (searching for pieces of history along the banks of the River Thames), you are generally searching for older pieces of our past - clay pipes, coins, bullets... evidence of the lives of people from the London of the past - long gone. Tangible pieces of lives from sometimes hundreds of years ago. Today we did find some super pieces of history, but the River Thames does not only hold the secrets of olden times. Within its currents, there are many fragments of modern day lives too, and it is these modern mysteries that I would like to focus on.
Today the River Thames gave me three mysteries to ponder on. I wonder if you might be able to help me solve them.
Ok, here goes. Mystery number one is a message in a bottle that was sitting there alone on the foreshore ( I have to admit, the last thing I was expecting to find today). It was in a small bottle, with tape sealing the lid, so obviously the person who wrote it wanted to make sure it stayed waterproof.
message in a bottle found on the London Thames foreshore today - carefully sealed with cellotape.
When I arrived home, I opened the note over a cup of tea, and the message is marked with what I believe to be a name and a place. No date unfortunately.
message in a bottle found on the Thames foreshore. Is this a name and a place? The author presumably comes from Sri Lanka.
Do you know this person? It's slightly hard to read, but I'm assuming this is a name, and that the person comes from Sri Lanka. Maybe they're visiting London (it definitely hasn't travelled all the way from Sri Lanka). It would be lovely to trace the person (Is it Saneera?).
modern mystery number two
photograph in a bottle
The second modern mystery in a bottle is this photograph which someone has carefully placed in a bottle and thrown in the River Thames. I had hoped that perhaps they had written something on the back, but there is nothing. Who are they? They look very happy. They seem to be at some kind of party. Is it a memory that someone has placed in a bottle and thrown in the River? Do you know who they are?
This bottle, (and photograph) holds a lot of happy memories, and for some reason it was let go into the River. The River Thames holds so many mysteries from both our recent past and from times gone by..... Keeper of secrets and inspiration for our imagination.
This bottle, (and photograph) holds a lot of happy memories, and for some reason it was let go into the River. The River Thames holds so many mysteries from both our recent past and from times gone by..... Keeper of secrets and inspiration for our imagination.
 photo in a bottle, found on the foreshore of the River Thames. |  photograph in a bottle found on the foreshore of the River Thames,London. Who are they? |
modern mystery number three
The third mystery is a fun one. It was not found in a bottle, but probably involved drinking a few bottles :) Whilst we were mudlarking along the River Thames today, a couple of party boats went past, music blaring, people dancing.. (and , it was only 11.30am!). This third find, found nestled in the mud, is evidence of a happy fun time. Zoe's hen party no less!
Zoe's henparty - Soul Boat - August 2014
It is not just people from hundreds of years ago that leave evidence and teasers from their lives for us to find and wonder over. We who are well and truly still alive, do it too. It can be just as fascinating to find these fragments of modern day lives. It makes me wonder, and makes me want to make a connection.
Do you know the person from Sri Lanka? Or, the couple in the photograph? or Zoe? Please let me know if you do. X
“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?" That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
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