Our little enclave of St. Katherine’s docks is feeling very British. As evidence we offer the photo above of the one, very narrow street through this area.

Exhibit two, although everyone seems to be using cell phones.

And then there are the fashions.

Very conscious of appearances, the Brits walking through St. Kat’s are.

We’ll try and show you more fashions when the dress code returns to normal next week (locals are dressing down for the G20 festivities).

And now a different and more interesting style of dress. The mainsail on one of the Thames barges docked around us. An interesting approach to relative efficiency and ease of handling.

The Thames barges are very angular, for maximum payload, but they all have nicely shaped rear ends.

From these neighbors we learned the barges move mainly with the tide. If there is no wind for steerage, a large sweep oar generates the forward thrust. Spars are lowered for fixed bridges.

An interesting way of storing the chain rode, ready for use. The flaking system (manual) would take some effort.

There’s a large supermarket a short walk away. We’re checking what they carry as we plan to do all our provisioning for the next six months here. The staff is exceptionally friendly and helpful. The butcher even showed us to the peanut butter display (next to the Marmite).

There is a bewildering selection of wine.

And lots of goose related products.

Including this essential ingredient (for what we are not sure).

We are into reading labels, and the bottom of this bag gave us a feeling of real confidence.

And then the highlight of this year’s cruise (so far). Note the cracker display, especially the center.

In a previous life we were involved in the display business (40+ years ago). It warms the heart to know that some of our “big men” have made a contribution to the British culinary experience (not to mention the local culture).