Hole in the wall

That's what the pub is called just out of shot to this on the left. It's actually next to the Balkerne Gate, the western entry though the Roman wall which no longer surrounds the town, as it has outgrown it by a long way, but is still in tact in many places.

This is to the west of Colchester town, the wall running the length of Balkerne Hill. The elephant in the picture is of course the huge water tower which dominates the skyline of Colchester when viewed from a distance. The tower has actually been nicknamed 'Jumbo' by locals, as long ago as 1882 - it took 20 months to build which is the same as the gestation period of an elephant!

The tower is a grade II* listed building, weighs about a 1,000 tons, contains 1.2 million bricks and used to hold 37,000 cubic feet of water. Someone once had planning permission to convert it to a penthouse, replacing the steel with glass, but the permission has expired and is unlikely to be granted again as a local charity aims to turn it into a heritage attraction.

Colchester is a great town overall. But, having been there 4 or 5 times this week, I'm hoping that after today's emergency xmas shopping I don't have to go again for another week or so:)

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY.