Moving Bridges

By good fortune the place where I work has a long garden that leads down to the River Ouse at Godmanchester, where in summer narrow boats and cruisers often moor. Yesterday I couldn't fail to see a massive crane hanging over the river, which made me curious. It turned out that they were planning to remove the famous Chinese Bridge, which had become unsafe, and replace it with a new one.
Now this is no tiddly little bridge - it's pretty big and would have to slide and swing into a small paved area next to the road. So that would be a sight to see. And the crane was huge!

An hour later there was still no movement and I was freezing cold and had to get to work, but I kept an eye open, just glimpsed the bridge being raised and swung across, (this second picture just shows a simple and temporary scaffolding bridge) then dashed out to see it "landed" and soon cut to pieces.

 

  

 

One or two folks even took bits away with them. This chap is clearly bearing his cross ...
The Cambridge Evening News and The Hunts Post both filmed it. The lady from the Hunts Post was more friendly.
They expect to replace it with a new bridge - which everyone hopes will look identical - in a week or so.
I realise that since buying Patience I've started to notice things like bollards and weirs, river banks and bridges, which previously I'd mainly passed by. It's good! I've also joined the Great Ouse Boating Association or GOBA, which does good works and knows of good moorings.