See what's become of us

My friend Norah arrived this week for an adventure and we decided to go see the astronomical clock at Hampton Court Palace.

Norah likes England, history, museums, reading, water, castles, and libraries so it seemed like a natural.

King Henry VIII commissioned the astronomical clock for his palace at Hampton Court, which was installed around 1540. Still functioning, it was quite practical: showing the time, month, day of the month, position of the sun in the zodiac, the phase and age of the moon.

It also determined the time at which the moon would cross the meridian and therefore the time of high water at London Bridge, which was useful if you, like King Henry, traveled to London by Royal Barge.

We, however, traveled in my floating library.