A drain? Dyke? Ditch?

When travelling by train from Suffolk we would go near something called the 100 foot drain - it was a much wider version of the above in the Fens.

We came past this on our 4 mile stroll with Carole and David who drove up from Ipswich to have a walk and lunch with us. We walked firstly by the sea till we reached the mouth of the river Blyth, with Walberswick on the other side, trying not to get entangled by a run that was taking place. There looked to be hundreds of runners till we realised they were going round twice.

The walk took us up to the footbridge where we could have gone across the river but Carole had a plan to head back up to Southwold via a creek then down to the sea at the pier and back. It was a pleasant round in bright sunshine. And it was good to catch up with Carole and David. We talked about politics a lot as he is leader of the council and she is on the planning committee. Sizewell nuclear power station was on the horizon when they said they thought nuclear was the way forward. I was surprised, but they think we can’t get enough from renewable. I worry about the risk from accidents - human error, equipment malfunction and climate change. Plus what to do with waste and the old decommissioned plants.

We finally got news from friends at home when some had their electricity, phones and water restored this afternoon. Not all of the village has been reconnected and none of the hamlets and hinterland. That’s 48 hours and counting for some. “Civilisation” is so vulnerable. All-electric homes have nothing to fall back on. Some friends moved out to the caravan to cook as it had bottled gas. We have a gas hob and a coal fire at home. They were still trying to source bottled water for those that need it. At least when our farm was snowed in for 10 weeks in the early 1960s we had no electricity or phones to worry about!