Friday, September 02, 2005

They wouldn't let it happen


I live in a city that is 2000 years old, on land that was reclaimed in the 18-19th century from marshland. In the winter I walk UP to the riverside to see the level of the water the same height as my ground floor ceiling. I have raised it again and again with neighbours. "They wouldn't let it happen," sums up the responses.

The Houses of Parliament sits by the same river, which is their point [I think.]

Great cities and the civilizations that created them have come and gone. Prehistoric settlements have been discovered underwater.

I have every sympathy with the people of New Orleans, and am amazed to hear that budget cuts were made to measures to flood prevention. The veneer of civilisation is nothing as fixed as it maybe assumed.

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