I think it appropriate at this point in the proceedings to name the two mechanical diggers of Heyrman-de-roeck that are causing rampant destruction at Rhodia’s “mere”.
Napoleon
The squat of the two, “Napoleon” is a particularly destructive beast with his handler felling trees, ripping up reed bed and scouring out banks.
“Bonaparte” on the other hand is a much more sedate creature, spending most of his time near to the houses on the South side of the site, the long arm able to scrape up the parts that Napoleon cannot reach.
Bonaparte
By the end of last week Napoleon had wrought havoc on the unstable North embankment. Also exposed was a remainder of the old pipe that boats used to use for disposal from the adjacent canal.
According to the HPA Human health risk assessment preceding these works, “If any remedial action or significant site works are undertaken at the site in the future, a risk assessment should be undertaken to assess any potential risks to health during the works and subsequent potential hazards.” Hollow words indeed. A potential hazard is the adjacent canal and its contents, yet here we see an unstable embankment being made even more so with the pretense that this has something to do with “protecting birds”.
I do fear for the safety of Napoleon should he continue to operate on this embankment, as one slip could see him finding his Watery-loo.