Seeing a picture on my mother’s blog (truly, we’re turning into the Von Trapps of blogging: my brother Ewan has one too) sends me off on a scout through Flickr for pictures of the Waverley, the historic paddle steamer I spent many happy childhood days on.

Its greatest feature, for me, was the open-sided engine room at the heart of the ship, where you could see, hear and smell the remarkable triple expansion steam engine; three pistons, huge weights at the end, spinning the paddle wheels in a distinctive eight beats to the bar rhythm. I found two (1 & 2) wonderful pictures of the engine room - the second one, in particular, shows a wee boy peering over the railing as the pistons pound around just feet away. He’s standing on a raised piece of deck under which the axle passes out to the paddles, thus making it ideal for short people to see what’s happening. I used to stand there too… the image brought back happy memories.

I was saddened to see pictures of the Waverley on the Thames from October, while I was revising for an MBA exam;I’ve missed her annual visit down here, again, and the break from that finance revision would have been nice (if detramental to the work at hand). I really must get aboard next year.

(Oh - and a note on the headline: "I’m off to see the engines" was the traditional cry of the menfolk during a trip aboard the Clyde steamers. They may, certainly, have passed by the engines, but only en route to the bar, which nestled behind the engines, below the waterline. Last time I was aboard, I was too young to have a drink. I’m looking forward to completing the Waverley experience next time).

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