onionbagblog

You call it a jetty, I call it a pier. Either way, it was lovely to see Wivenhoe’s very own walkway out towards the water [snappy] finding a use over the weekend.

Following the grand opening of the jetty / pier by our friends from Taylor Wimpey earlier in the year, I had feared that the planks of wood would have about as much life in them as can be found in a sterile show home.

Not so.

We’re rather good at adapting and improvising here in Wivenhoe. Kids have decamped from the traditional West Quay crabbing vantage point of choice, and are now dangling their crab lines from over the side of the Seventh Wonder of Wivenhoe.

Technical note: don’t ask me about the other six until I’ve had six pints, but you’ve probably already guessed that Papa’s Chip Shop features prominently on my list.

But anyway, about the pier; or jetty even…

It’s also found a use from the newly formed Wivenhoe Jetty Fisherman’s Club. Numbers may be low, but then so is the water for most of the time during the fishing hours. I do like the sight of seeing a fine young fisherman dangling his big rod in the water, and then pulling it in with a sharp tug.

Meanwhile, back in m’South London manor and I see that m’South London colleagues, the fine @SE11_lurker and @TradescantRoad, are getting their hyperlocal hot pants all overheated over the appearance of the new Vauxhall Pier.

Pah.

You are unlikely to see any of the local kids crabbing there, Comrades. And unlike m’South London colleagues, yep - we are able to offer the fabled (and STILL absent) “free swimming for every resident.”

Stick that on the end of yer crab line, suckers.

Perhaps Wivenhoe Pier and Vauxhall Pier could be twinned? It would open up a new cultural, um, legacy, not to mention providing me with the train fare back and forth when I agree to become the first Cultural Ambassador between South London and Wivenhoe.

Just dipping my toe in the water, so to speak.