London is Drowning

A hearty welcome back to Tavern regulars and my thanks to those who continue to drop in (except, of course, those looking for Ryanair hostesses in bikinis - you know who you are...)

Things are still not back to normal on the computer front though I am still reading the excellent output of the hardy souls named in the sidebar.

In fact, this return is prompted by my unsuccessful attempts to comment on a piece at The Cynical Tendency; Demetrius, channelling a stormy petrel rather than his vulture avatar, considers the possibility of water, water everywhere - at least in the Great Wen.

And that led me to wonder about the much-vaunted Olympic Park - how would that react to a potential meteo-tsunami of spring tide, low pressure and high winds funnelling a substantial part of the North Sea up the Thames?

Regulars will know that this scenario is played out in 'The Kraken Wakes'; Wyndham's description of the tense wait for the high tide to spill over the Thames embankments takes some beating. There is much made of the Olympic site's capacity to store excess rainwater but how about a barrier-topping tidal surge?

I suppose they have plans in place to ensure we aren't treated to the women's 4 x 4 paddle or the 100m splash - thought the rowers and swimmers should be fine - but I can't help wondering whether our friends in Vancouver, say, would be watching with interest - and perhaps a touch of uncharacteristic Schadenfreude...

Was it coincidental or prophetic, I wonder, that the Olympic bid was launched to the strains of the Clash and the apocaholic's anthem of choice, 'London Calling'?

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in,
Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin,
A nuclear error, but I have no fear
'Cause London is drowning, and I live by the river.