I took one of my walks this afternoon – a fairly long one. I sorted a thing or two out in the village first, then zipped over to woolwich. I decided to come back along the river in order to see how high it was, but it was fairly normal. That, however, meant I took the riverside walk, a fully accessible path built to commemorate the jubilee. I only rode along a part of it, between the Woolwich ferry and the thames barrier, yet whenever I take that walk it captivates me. I get a sense, going past the old docks and moorings, of a place full of activity, life and energy; even though those dry docks probably have not been used in years, it feels like they have only just been abandoned and things are still cooling. It’s weird: The city seems like a palimpsest, and every now and then you can glimpse of the past and sense the presence of the thousands here before you. Yet these docks housed ships which served an empire now long broken up; they are now dry and empty, save for waste. And so you walk on, towards the city, with the gleaming modern towers of canary Wharf – itself a place from where ships once sailed – ahead of you.