Flooding. Roman partygate venue? Looking after the world.

Well, today has been rain-free so far, but my granddaughter assures me that a certain Storm Gladys is on her way. They promise us another wild and windy weekend! Gladys might, of course, fizzle out before she gets here. We shall see. Some people are flooded for the third time, which must be playing havoc with their insurance policies. But a problem has arisen: cricket pitches have been underwater. Some still are. Cricket clubs spend large amounts of money, it seems, maintaining their grounds, especially the ‘square’, which I assume is where the bowlers and batters do their business and wickets stand or fall.

Over in Didsbury they deliberately flooded a golf course, diverting water from the River Mersey to prevent it spilling over onto houses. How amazing is modern science that a system like that can be set up! Now they need the river to subside quite a lot more so that they can pump the water back into it.

The foul weather does not appear to have prevented archaeologists from working on Roman remains near London Bridge, judging by this report in yesterday’s paper.

I rather liked the opening paragraph of the report:  

“The largest expanse of Roman mosaic found in London for more than half a century has been unearthed at a site believed to have been a venue for high-ranking officials to lounge in while being served food and drink.”

Is this the Roman equivalent of the 10 Downing Street garden? I wonder. 

Will any of our artefacts last a long? No doubt serendipity has played a large part in preserving all the Roman stuff. If it had not been buried underground it would doubtless have been broken up and re-used long ago. I suppose we are now more conscious of the need to preserve stuff for posterity, deliberately putting examples of the everyday, including recordings of sounds and voices, into museums. We’ve been careless with all sorts of things, only now realising that early recordings of TV shows and the like should have been put away with care. As with so many things concerning the survival of society and of the very planet itself, let’s hope we’ve not left it too late. 

The radio news informs me that Ukraine has just declared a state of emergency. The madness continues. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!