Touring the Infrastructure

Nice bit of writing on London's sewers starting up on Slate today. Down in the Fleet, Rob shines his helmet lamp on a pipe. It's encrusted with something. "Liquid concrete!" he says with disgust. "This is a throwaway society. Out of sight, out of mind." People will chuck anything, he says. Flushers—wastewater operatives got their name because they used to flush river water into the system to help it flow—have found gold, jewelry, even motorbikes. But mostly they find cotton buds, condoms, and fat.

1 minute read

April 24, 2006, 10:01 AM PDT

By Anonymous


Nice bit of writing on London's sewers starting up on Slate today.






Down in the Fleet, Rob shines his helmet lamp on a pipe. It's encrusted with something. "Liquid concrete!" he says with disgust. "This is a throwaway society. Out of sight, out of mind." People will chuck anything, he says. Flushersâ€"wastewater operatives got their name because they used to flush river water into the system to help it flowâ€"have found gold, jewelry, even motorbikes. But mostly they find cotton buds, condoms, and fat.





Worth a read. As the saying goes, he'll be there all week.



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