Downstream

either; a sailing boat passes
by and I can see a dredger in
the distance near Canvey
Island. To my left is the
North Sea, a shimmering
horizon lit up in a sudden
burst of sunshine interrupted
only by a single silhouette of
what looks like a huge
building. To my right the
river heads towards London,
to distant chimneys and the
crest of a low hill. There are,
as Conrad wrote over a