The Rainbow Warrior coming through London's Tower Bridge. © Will Rose / Greenpeace
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Pete is a volunteer deck hand on the Rainbow Warrior.
I'm only on the Rainbow Warrior! With some awe and trepidation, I joined the ship yesterday afternoon. It's now Tuesday night and, fighting to keep my eyes open, I look back on my first, very full, day on board.
An early start to move the ship to Tower Bridge. With two RHIBs (Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats) in the water, slightly twitchy river police turn up in a launch and escort us all the way up the Thames. It's impressive, the power Greenpeace has to motivate others...
I'm in a RHIB with Frank and Henry to nudge the Warrior away from the dock, then pick up Bex and the photographer to capture the ship sailing under the raised Tower Bridge. As we circle her, the sun burns through a pallid sky to make a glorious and photogenic entrance.
Tied up to river buoys, I'm back on board for cleaning routines and a general tidy up - we have guests arriving tonight. Lunch, then all afternoon we make 'throwies': LEDs connected to batteries with a magnet taped on. At dusk, they're stuck onto the hull to spell out "kick start clean energy". It looks great.
On shore, we're putting arrows up, directing people to the ship and soon it's time for dinner. I find a place in the mess and John Sauven, head of Greenpeace UK, sits down next to me to talk to others on the table. I feel a right pudding in the middle but blow it, I'm hungry.
Guests start arriving so I'm posted on the quay to point them towards the ferry that's taking them aboard. And so the evening winds up in a chilly end and my bed calls.
It's been quite a day, getting to know the crew and ship's routine, and meeting lots of people including a couple of the Kingsnorth heroes. But the highlight of the day has to be speeding up the Thames in the sunshine, in a RHIB running on recycled vegetable oil.
