originally published on July 15th, 2015, in https://perpetual-lab.blogspot.com/
When I was 12 I lived in East Cowes, shown above on the left of the creek they call the River Medina.
The next year we moved across to West Cowes.
The two sides of Cowes are joined by a chain ferry.
The constant to-and-fro of yachts on the Medina with their tall masts makes a bridge impossible.
We rented a flat near the chain ferry. For a week we had the shortest address in England:
31 Marinus, Cowes, IW
IW is the recognized abbreviation for Isle of Wight.
Our bedroom window is the one obscured by a “Honda” flag.
This photo was taken from our bedroom window at Marinus. You can see the chain ferry with cars loading.
Chain ferry starting to unload, West Cowes.
Here’s a view from our lounge. The Victorian houses look just like the back of ours, here in land-locked Wye Vale, Buckinghamshire.
Taken from our balcony.
The same, at dawn.
This hammerhead crane has loomed on the skyline since 1912, when Cowes had a dockyard & built ships for the Royal Navy & other clients. I’m always pleased to see things unchanged since childhood, like this and the chain ferry.
As a boy I saw it as majestic and terrible, and somehow linked to my new stepfather, an engineer working on the Princess Flying Boat, itself an engineers’ dream that took off for a few test flights, but never commercially.
To be continued in my next.
a wayfarer’s notes 
Thanks for returning with a fascinating post.
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I like what you said about how you are “always pleased to see things unchanged since childhood”. The crane really does look majestic & thankful to still be standing.
Thank You for showing us your merry photos! The one you took at dawn looks like a sunrise from the bible. I think I like that one best, but they are each beautiful.
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Hello Vincent. Just got back from a trip of my own. Hope all is well with you.
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Thanks, Cindy, all the photos apart from the aerial one were taken within a hundred yards of one another.
Yes, when things remain unchanged since childhood they help bring completion to loose ends of memory. I might expand that idea in my next.
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It's been so long, Bryan, that I thought of writing to you. Perhaps you will also have a traveller's tale? Your silence has been way longer than mine.
All is indeed well, this addiction to silence has been benign, & hope the same with you.
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Thank you, Ellie, I had so much to say I couldn't squeeze it into one post so decided to start simply. There will be more but not sure when.
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