Ghoulish interest

So, the day of Mrs Thatcher's funeral, and as predicted last week, the police were in evidence along the towpath by Mortlake Crematorium today. They were there in the morning in small numbers - one plain clothes man with a camera and telephoto lens parked outside the Ship Inn, trying not to be noticed, and a dozen or so uniformed officers by the crematorium and in the retail park.

This evening I left work just about as the funeral cortege arrived at the crematorium, so was there to see a much larger number of police, including river police in launches and dinghies, up on Chiswick Bridge, plus a smallish crowd of onlookers, and these two paparazzi types equipped with steps and long lenses to catch the coffin going into the crematorium. You could see the coffin from the towpath, so they had quite a clear shot.