Old pump off. West edge of new long Manor lake tidied up. 16th October 2022

Before we start: Loony Liz throws crazy Kwarteng under a bus by sacking him. How ruthless!  Markets stabilised a bit, but not much.  Jeremy Hunt (I had to type that carefully) is new chancellor - though many say he is PM in reality.  Sunak is having a right laugh at the whole situation. 

Calamity Clarke postulates removing tenant protection laws! Also remove need for builders to construct social housing!

Cuckoo Coffey wants pharmacies to dispense antibiotics!!!

The government are full of lunatics. They want to return us to the middle ages, bringing back work and alms houses. Sheesh.

On the bright side, NASA have invented a solid state sulphur-selenium battery that is safer than lion batteries, 30%-40% lighter, holds a greater charge, and can be charged in about 5 minutes. A battery that uses cheap, readily available chemicals. Bet the government invest in a Gigafactory ustilising lithium technology rather than this new, sulphur-selenium technology.

Hmmm. It is rather difficult to put a finger on exactly what Inert have been up to this past week. Some bits are pretty obvious. Other bits less so. Frustratingly, I've probably missed other little jobs that Inert have accomplished on Manor farm.  I only visit the area twice a week, currently. My second visit is like a forensic expert, looking at evidence on Manor farm to try and piece together what Inert has achieved.

Let's start at the top, north end of the site, and state what I know.

As reported on Wednesday, the last, tiny remnant of the eastern North embankment is gone. The whole area is reasonably flat. However, the area still has an unfinished quality about it.  Inert, or another crew, will return to fettle.

Moving swiftly down to the yellow vehicle bridge and the west edge of what will be the new, long Manor lake.  A few weeks ago, digger operators beautifully crafted the 'bulge' on the west end of the new, long Manor lake, and gave it a bit of banking.  A couple of weeks later, the digger operators were then told to dig the area out, as it wasn't deep enough.  The poor digger operators dumped all the spoil on to the lovely crafted banking.

This last week or so, the digger operators were back again to remove all the stuff they had piled on the south side of their 'bulge', craft a beautiful, gently shelving curved bank, and then smooth the entire area - again.

Water levels have risen around the yellow vehicle bridge.

Inert do this a lot.

A small piece of the banking that runs alongside the south (aka Blackwater) footpath has also been cleared. No idea why the whole lot isn't flattened, unless it is to be used to cap the banking along the south edge of the main reed beds.

No further progress has been made on the banking around the main reed beds.

Moving east to the new, yellow pump. Inert have extended its outlet so that it reaches over the narrow bank of earth in the channel that leads to the current Manor lake. This means water from the main reed bed can actually be pumped into the current Manor lake. DOH.

Water levels in the current Manor lake have dropped considerably since our old, faithful pump was turned on. At least two feet of water has been pumped out. I don't know if this is sufficient for the digging of the new, long Manor lake to commence safely.  Our old faithful pump has been turned off.

Inert have done a couple of curious bits of work around the west edge of the current Manor lake. For what purpose eludes me.

I can say that Inert were working on Chandlers farm on Wednesday. Presumably more stuff arrived for the site. Though they were dumping it on an area marked on maps as being completed.

Anyway. It appears that Inert area at it again. Having made a major push, they have now gone quiet or quietish. This might be due to having to work on Chandlers farm or possibly staff sickness or a breather for assessment of what they do next.

I was a little surprised that they hadn't started on digging out the deeper parts of what will be the new, long Manor lake, and plumbing its western side into the current, eastern side. But then, I've always said that Inert work in ways mysterious to my ordered engineering/scientific mind.