An historic view

Yesterday afternoon I decided that our walk ("our" meaning the dog and me) would be round the ramparts of the Roman Camp, or Hollingbury hill fort as it is officially known.  I had been there earlier in the week and yesterday I wanted to take a photograph of what I had seen, not having taken a camera with me the previous time.  But my efforts yesterday were in vain.  The temperature was officially about seven degrees, but it felt a good ten degrees colder than that because of the strong north-easterly wind.  The wind was so strong that I could not hold the camera steady enough to make it worthwhile taking pictures.  So I offer a picture I took back last August.

That is the scene from the southern rampart of the Camp, looking across the city of Brighton and out over the English Channel.  I grant you that it's not exactly what our Iron Age forebears would have seen; the city has expanded both outwards and upwards over the past two or more millennia.  but the view of the sea would have remained much the same during the intervening centuries.

That is about to change.  Indeed, change has already begun, which is why I describe this as an historic view.  About 8 miles offshore is this, MPI Discovery.

With apologies to the copyright holder for not obtaining his permission.

The Rampion wind-farm is under construction.  We will eventually see 116 wind turbines out there.

I'm not a fan of wind turbines.

Yes, I do appreciate having electricity, being able to flick a switch to provide light, being able to boil a kettle to make a cup of tea and so on.  And I accept that we need to find alternative sources of energy with the supply of fossil fuels nearing exhaustion.  But I do not accept that wind turbines are the answer.  Wind turbines only work when the wind speed is between certain limits and, as afar as I have seen, they are not altogether reliable.

We are an island state, surrounded by water.  And one of the enduring features of water is that it moves.  Sea water and, to an extent, river water is tidal.  Centuries ago, water was used to provide power, power to mill grain and other machinery through waterwheels.  Hydro-electricity is common enough and surely somebody is clever enough to devise a tidal version that we could use instead of blighting views, both inland and to sea, with those ghastly constructions?