Around nine hundred years ago, someone made the clever decision to start a university between two rivers that flood regularly. The presence of the rivers made it easy to defend the tiny walled city during times of war (and the king moved his court here during the English civil war). However, all that water is a mixed blessing. Our libraries are all built on upper floors of the buildings, just to be safe.
A result of this age-old problem is that I occasionally have to get my bicycle (with Xiaohu sitting in his seat behind me) through a road that is about 1.5 feet under water. He loves it.
Sometimes, it takes you by surprise, though - as in the case remembered by this haiku, where we turned into the back of the University Parks only to find them entirely submerged, with no way of getting into the city. We stopped and enjoyed the sight of a fast-moving river appearing where once there were some rather lovely parks.
Around nine hundred years ago, someone made the clever decision to start a university between two rivers that flood regularly. The presence of the rivers made it easy to defend the tiny walled city during times of war (and the king moved his court here during the English civil war). However, all that water is a mixed blessing. Our libraries are all built on upper floors of the buildings, just to be safe.
ReplyDeleteA result of this age-old problem is that I occasionally have to get my bicycle (with Xiaohu sitting in his seat behind me) through a road that is about 1.5 feet under water. He loves it.
Sometimes, it takes you by surprise, though - as in the case remembered by this haiku, where we turned into the back of the University Parks only to find them entirely submerged, with no way of getting into the city. We stopped and enjoyed the sight of a fast-moving river appearing where once there were some rather lovely parks.
Medieval problems for a modern age.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes