Drainage Board Inspection
Reassuringly if you live in the Fens, or discouragingly if you are a Fen tiger*
of old, I can bare witness to the fact that there really are groups of men
sitting and watching the water in our dykes. To the untrained eye, having
peered into one of the more meagre manmade ditches myself, I was left
bemused. What water there was appeared not only stagnant but entirely
static, not a wisp of a current in sight. Yet to the trained eye it was all too
obvious its flow, and this was before deploying a well crafted paper boat.
In attending the Black Sluice Drainage Board Inspection and having spent
many hours consulting dykes of all proportions, I would happily tout them
as one of our fine land’s emergency services; allbeit a subdued one. The
Drainage Board’s occupation is one of prevention, and in prevention every
stone must be upturned and problems, resolved. When pondering the
course of what appeared nothing more than a grassed furrow, the
drainage board is resolute in its thoroughness. Understanding every
channel of water however small, serves as an important cog in maintaining
the drainage of the Fens.
Adding to this slow but most defiantly uncertain madness, the Fens are
managed by a host of Drainage boards. All of which manage defined areas
and much like a Boroughs trash may blow into another Boroughs, each
Drainage board has to deal with others spills, overflows and unbeknowns;
all I am sure over a fitting glass of Sherry.
The future of the Fens, if it is to remain one of UK’s most productive
food resources, will doubtlessly have to continue embracing the skills
and experience of the Drainage Boards. However if we are to excitedly
beautify this flat land and effectively turn it into glorified bog gardens,
we should consult the Drainage Boards and understand the effectiveness
of saturating large sections of our community for want of recapturing
authenticity. In short, lets raise a toast for the labours of our Drainage.
*Unfortunately not a nearing extinct feline tourist attraction, but the
name given to poachers who lived off the wetlands of the Fens in the 19th century.
