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Greetings!
Move over Einstein.
Put away your tables Pythagarus. Do not even bother to invent the
computer Charles Babbage for a new mathematical genius is amongst us.
Welcome, Tim McMahon of Southern Water, the likely recipient of the
next Nobel Prize for Mathematics.
The story so far.
Tim McMaths made a claim that the South-East of England was drier
than Istanbul. This was soon shot down in flames, but with a brain
that processes faster that the most super of supercomputers McMaths
came back with new workings to prove that the South-East, though not
technically drier than Istanbul, was indubitably equally dry.
However, McMaths, who probably hones his calculating skills watching
endless repeats of the numbers game on quiz show Countdown had
to perform two feats of contorted logic to arrive (again) at this
implausible claim.
Firstly, he had to
include the population of London in his calculations. The last time I
looked our capital was most definitely not in the south-eastern
portion of England but hey-ho Tim perhaps you are lining yourself up
for a Nobel Prize double to include geography. Secondly, Tim has used
the historic average for Istanbul rainfall but compares it one of the
driest on periods on record for South-East England.
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All this I know
because McMaths came up with the new ‘equally dry’ assertion having
been challenged in a meeting which raised my comments in the previous
Newsletter. Subsequently My Rain Truth as McMaths’ revised
calculations should be known as from now on were then circulated to
Southern Water employees as the official line to bail out the sinking
McMaths.
Amusing as all this
is, my worry is that it vividly illustrates the failing in the
management culture of Southern Water. Rather than admit a mistake and
move on, the employees are encouraged to hunker down behind the
flimsy barricades of half-truths, defending the indefensible making
both themselves and the company look, at the kindest reading, absurd.
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Water company
economics 101
Just to prove I am
not entirely unsympathetic to the plight of Southern Water let me
tell you something of the small Hampshire village of Sutton Scotney,
which happens to be close to the source of the River Dever, a major
River Test tributary with our beloved Bullington Manor a mile or so
downstream.
Sutton Scotney,
with a population of just under a thousand, is what would be regarded
as a big village. It has a pub, village shop, nursing home, fire
station, filling station, garage plus the substantial Naomi House, a
children’s hospice. Like many villages both in Hampshire and
across England it has grown substantially this century, in this case
by 35% but is served by the same sewage works that was built sometime
in the previous century to serve a much smaller population at a time
when average household water usage was much lower.
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Sutton Scotney sewage works in
progress
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These works have
not been up to the task of serving the current 590 households of
Sutton Scotney for a great many years, as evidenced by the almost
permanent presence of standby tankers taking away the overflow. These
tankers, which you see at similar works all over the county, cost I
am told £2,000 a day, so something in the region of quarter to
half a million pounds a year just to keep Sutton Scotney on sewage
life support.
That would be fine
if Southern Water were deriving oodles of money from the villagers,
but they are not. The income from Sutton Scotney for sewerage
services, based on the 76p a day/household tariff Southern will be
able to charge once the new pricing kicks in, will be in the region
of £165,000 a year. So currently the annual loss, with standard
running costs plus the tankers, is well into six figures. Now to be
fair to Southern Water they are not blind to the issue and have been,
since last winter, upgrading the works with the project costing
£5.2m.
It does not take a
financial wizard to see that there is no way this work is going to
pay out for Southern Water. Even if we assumed the running costs of
the sewage works were zero, with no future maintenance bills or any
cost of finance to add, the payback on that £5.2m would take 31
years. Add in any or all of the true costs and the payback is pretty
well no time ever.
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This is the bind
that Southern Water, Thames Water and most all of the water companies
find themselves in. They have to modernise to meet customer need and
environmental legislation, but the cost of that modernisation far
exceeds any possible financial reward. No wonder KKR and other
institutions are running for the hills or writing down the value of
water company stakes to zero. They see the writing on the wall.
For us consumers
there is a mighty bill ahead. If we want plentiful water through our
taps, toilets that flush away with ease and waste treatment standards
that return clean water back to our rivers then charges will have to
rise not just by a percentage but by many times what we currently
pay. The question is whether there is a politician, both brave and
wise, who can sell this difficult message.
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The excitement of the opening day
My upbringing was
such that I entirely missed out on coarse fishing; in east Hampshire
we were blessed with chalkstreams so of bream, barbel, carp, chub and
perch I knew nothing. In fact the first I knew of this strange breed
of non-fly fishing folk who sought out such species was after an
all-nighter at university. The residences at the University of East
Anglia overlooked the Broads and at the dawn of one mid-June morning
I saw figures emerge from the mist hurrying towards the water. It
was, of course, 16 June, a date that had had no significance to me
until that moment.
To this day, half a
century or more, that vision still stays with me. I recall exactly
the urgency of those figures to reach the bank, set up the rods and
get fishing. The opening day was a very special event. Back then all
year coarse fishing venues were few and far between. The close season
meant closed to all fishing for most people, so the anticipation of
the opening day ramped up as the end of the three-month fishing
drought came ever closer.
People got positively excited about getting back on
the water. The Angling Times doubled its page count to fulfil
advertiser needs. Angling shops stocked up on all sorts of goodies.
Kids pestered their fathers as if it was Christmas Day soon. In a way
it is a shame that wide eyed excitement no longer exists quite as it
did.
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But that said, we
still have a strict closed season on the rivers so I know of one
person who will be exhibiting childlike enthusiasm to be back on his
beloved River Wye this week. I am, of course, talking about John
Bailey, both angler extraordinaire and currently in the throes of
filming the eighth series of Gone Fishing for which he has
been Angling Consultant since the very first episode. I know neither
Bob nor Paul will gripe if I say this programme would not exist
without John. You may never see him in front of the camera but
believe me he is an almost Godlike presence behind the camera. He is
the fishing Mr Fixit.
If you want to join
John on the River Wye between his filming stints for predominately
barbel and chub, check out our link. The season runs from now to late autumn with
the days available for singles, pairs or groups to four. John
provides everything - just bring yourself and a pair of waders.
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In praise of the Summer Solstice
There is something
inestimably special about the Summer Solstice. The day in the year
when the upward trajectory towards summer ends, the rest of the year
a slow slide toward the depths of winter. Of all the days in the year
it is my favourite, albeit seasonally bitter and sweet. Usually I let
sleep take me as soon as it comes but on this night I fight tiredness
to enjoy every last moment of the blue/grey night that never really
gets dark. Even the bats, who ordinarily return to their roosts, seem
to treat this extended half-darkness as an all-night diner.
The thing about the
solstice is that it is a moment in the calendar over which we have no
control. Christmas. Easter. New Year. They are all human constructs.
Should a cataclysmic event or manmade disaster wipe us all from the
planet (my money is on the latter) none of those days will exist, the
dates passing unnoticed. But the solstice is different. It has been
here since the start of time. It will be here until the end of time.
It regulates our very existence. Without the cadence of the seasons
it creates the planet as we know it would not exist.
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In truth,
contemporary humankind is daft; we should have kept with the sun
worshipping of the Inca tribes and their like. Our modern
celebrations of made-up dates are laughable in the face evolution.
The next time somebody proposes as new Bank Holiday for some notional
event we should pause and ask: What date really matters?
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Your photos
Here is a selection of a few photos sent with your
feedback reports in the past few weeks. Thank you all and keep 'em
coming!
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Clockwise: Exton Manor Farm
(Meon). Abbots Worthy (Itchen).
Breach Farm
(Itchen). Exton Manor Farm (Meon).
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The usual
random collection of questions inspired by the events that took
place on this date in history or topics in the Newsletter.
1) Who ascended the British throne on this day in
1837 to reign for 63 years?
2) In what year did Royal Ascot extend from a four
day fixture ending on Friday to a five day ending on Saturday? A)
1962 B) 1982 C) 2002
3) The Norfolk Broads were formed by the flooding of
areas dug to extract what fuel?
Answers are at
the bottom of this Newsletter.
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Have a good
Solstice weekend.
Best wishes,
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1) Queen
Victoria
2) C) 2002
3) Peat
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We have three places left on 8-11 years group (14-16
July) and five places on 12-15 years group (21-23 July). More details here ....
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