Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Has anyone seen this whale swimming up the River Thames?

Page: 1(2)3

sleazenation

00:50 / 21.01.06

sadly not... the barrier stays down unless there is a flood tide due

ONLY NICE THINGS

07:59 / 21.01.06

Besides, whales are like kittens - always getting into apparently impossible spots. You know, like the verge of extinction.

Any news on this one? I am sad for it.

sleazenation

08:37 / 21.01.06

It still seems to be frightened and confused and going round in circles...

Hattie's Kitchen

11:21 / 21.01.06

Rescuers have managed to get it onto a pontoon-type thing and marine vets are assessing its health. I really hope it's well enough and that they can get it back out to sea...poor thing.

charrellz

18:52 / 21.01.06

It seems the whale didn't make it. Makes me down right sad.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:07 / 21.01.06

Oh that's horrible.

Lilly Nowhere Late

06:40 / 22.01.06

This news has really sullied the day. Poor whale. It must have been terrified. Any news on the other two lost whales?
oh...

trouble at bill

17:52 / 22.01.06

that's horrible.

as is the "Farewhale" headline in one of today's redtops...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:27 / 22.01.06

Yes, that was fairly fucking reprehensible.

There's a good Euan Ferguson piece in the Observer. Kind of a paean to London and an epitaph for the poor whale all rolled into one. "it seemed that the only proper reaction to yesterday, as so often with nature, should have been a careful mixture of wonder and sadness".

Mon Oncle Ignatius

18:44 / 22.01.06

Very sad indeed.

as is the "Farewhale" headline in one of today's redtops...

Two of them used the same headline. Another seen yesterday was "Celebrity Big Blubber". I can't decide if it was truly appalling or a piece of clever punning.

William Sack

09:40 / 24.01.06

There is a provision in the 1324 Statute De Prerogativa Regis that any whale found or caught within territorial waters is Crown property. It's the same with a sturgeon, and this archaic law has never actually been repealed. Melville talks about it in Moby Dick. Apparently " "Ye tail is ye Queen's, that ye Queen's wardrobe may be supplied with ye whalebone."

Strictly speaking, what must happen is that this whale should be cut in half and the head presented to Prince Philip (as Honourary Grand Harpooneer) and the tail to the Queen. However, I think it would be a terrible misjudgment on the Queen's part if she were to insist on compliance.

Char Aina

10:11 / 24.01.06

"it seemed that the only proper reaction to yesterday, as so often with nature, should have been a careful mixture of wonder and sadness".

i think that hits the nail for me.

ONLY NICE THINGS

10:12 / 24.01.06

Surely, once it is deceased, fighting a whale becomes meaningless? As such, what is this thread doing in the Conversation? We're all about fighting here, you know.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

10:40 / 24.01.06

Then we shall fight the Zombie Whale of London Towne! Whether the Queene of Englande or her dread consort the Master Harpooner, likes it or not.

invisible_al

10:55 / 24.01.06

I heard somewhere that it's going into the Natural History Museums collection, wonder if it'll end up next to the pickled Giant Squid they've got in the basement?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:02 / 24.01.06

That's not a squid- it's a shoggoth.

William Sack

11:56 / 24.01.06

Off-topic, but there is an exhibition at the Law Society Library at the moment on strange and lesser known old legislation that's still in force - stuff like the prohibition on wearing a suit of armour to the Houses of Parliament, driving a goose down Cheapside, and buggering a heron.

Here.

By the by, the father of a friend of mine is a Freeman of the City of London, which means, amongst other things, that he is allowed to drive a flock of sheep over London Bridge. Not that he ever has, the pussy.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

12:01 / 24.01.06

Could he perhaps drive said sheep in an open-topped tourist Routemaster, if the traffic is heavy?

William Sack

12:08 / 24.01.06

A marvelous suggestion Whisky-Tangomango, but he doesn't have a PSV license. I think the legislation is clear, you have to 'drive' the flock of sheep over the bridge, not accompany them on a bus.

ONLY NICE THINGS

12:12 / 24.01.06

Could you fit enough sheep in the back of a hatchback to consititute a flock?

How about if you fought them in?

William Sack

12:16 / 24.01.06

My parents keep Portland sheep, a fairly small breed, and my dad can punch several of them into the back of my mum's Peugeot 105, so I think that should work.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

12:18 / 24.01.06

Can we have photos when he takes the sheep for a jaunt across London Bridge, please?

Char Aina

12:21 / 24.01.06

at what point does a flock being reduced in numbers become de-flocked?

i mean, the last of the mohicans was still a mohican(well, except that he was a mohegan...), so wouldnt the last of a flock be a flock of one?

forgive my ignorance, for i am not sheepwise.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:26 / 24.01.06

Well, totally. One could be described as having a "Flock Of Seagulls haircut" even if one's hair only resembled that of the lead singer. Or so I hear.

Quantum

12:29 / 24.01.06

my dad can punch several of them into the back of my mum's Peugeot 105 william sack

*SMAK!* Baaah!
*PAF!!* BAAAAAH!!
*KERPOW!!* BAAH! BAAH!!!

I know of someone who's planning to do that- take a flock over the bridge, not punch them into the boot of a 105. William, do I know you?

*KERPOW!!* BAAH! BAAH!!!

Was that the punchline?

Anyone for a How To Fight Your Way Out Of A Peugeot 105 Filled With (Possibly Irate) Sheep thread yet?

William Sack

12:41 / 24.01.06

The more I look at that picture the more I see the body language of a couple that has fallen out of love, but is too tired to fight.

Hattie's Kitchen

09:29 / 25.01.06

Poor Wilma. It seems she was doomed the moment she swam into the North Sea by mistake, far away from her normal feeding grounds, and died of dehydration and kidney failure.

It's reminded me how threatened whales are by hunting (never mind the bloody Navy testing sonar systems and throwing Wilma off course in the first place). I'm making a donation to one of the whale conservation charities.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:34 / 25.01.06

Poor Wilma.

Hang on... was this poor lost creature actually looking for a Sexy Party? An Orgy?

Olulabelle

12:41 / 25.01.06

I don't think there is enough room in the Thames for a whale orgy.

modern maenad

09:25 / 08.02.06

Spent weedend with friend who works with the folks responsible for the whale rescue in London recently (British Divers Marine Life Rescue ). Thought it might tickle the Barbelith funny bone to know that when the rescue ended, the team went back to their cars to find they'd been issued with £200 of parking fines......luckily after some wrangling council cancelled them. Also, found out the entire operation cost £100,000, all of which is being funded by the charity....

Mistoffelees

15:34 / 08.02.06

I had been too lazy to type that story yet:

At the same time of the London whale, another big whale got stranded at the German shore. Greenpeace took the corpse and put it (about 45 feet long!) in front of the Japanese Embassy in Berlin (protesting against the Japanese killing 1.000 whales a year). Again, I was too lazy to go have a look, but many people went sightseeing. The Japanese got upset and wanted the police to stop it and remove the body, but it was all legal.

William Sack

11:11 / 09.02.06

The Japanese got upset and wanted the police to stop it and remove the body, but it was all legal.

I'm glad to see that it's not just England that has idiosyncratic laws relating to whale carcasses.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

19:33 / 10.02.06

Here's a brilliant justification for whaling if ever I heard one. Of course! It keeps your dog healthy to feed it dirt-cheap whale meat. How did we ever manage to nourish the poor creatures before without slaughtering whales - as it seems the "research purposes" no longer provide enough cover.

It does make me wonder where the poor Thames Whale's flesh ended up.

Page: 1(2)3

Add Your Reply