As an aside from the usual stuff I watch on SkyTV, choice programmes about wars, aeroplanes and large insects to name but a few, I have just watched a programme entitled “The Great Stink”. It was all about ye olde London and their criminal lack of proper sewers and sanitary conditions up until 1859 (audience – yeh cheers then, we have just had lunch and are now vomiting copiously into bins, boxes and collegue’s handbags). Now it doesn’t really strike you as a fascinating thing to spend your time viewing but I have to say it was actually very interesting, plus I have learnt something new that concerns me slightly.
Let me explain… Up until a certain Mr Bazelgette built the huge sewer system the Thames was basically an open turd pipe and London was rife with Cholera and Diptheria (nowadays its gangstas and chavs but anyway). When the Government was forced out of Westminster simply by the smell of the Thames so close by, they commissioned him to sort it all out, gave him loads of money and he did, and it is still there, running perfectly despite the 4 million more cockney geezers crapping dodgy burgers into it continuously. 36 MILLION cubic feet of waste EVERY DAY, explains a lot though lol. Before all this came along though, the streets were awash with poo. Literally. Night soil was thrown out of windows into the street with shouts of ‘Guarde l’eau’ (mind the water) and this is where I start to worry…
You see, being a chivalrous kind of a guy, when I am pacing in the company of a lady friend I always try to be the gentleman and walk on the side of the pavement nearest the road. Now I believed this was to protect such gem of feminine design from the day to day splashes of passing traffic and the like and now I find I have been somewhat mislead. The reason a man is supposed to stroll along, balancing on the kerb stones is simply to take the “solids on the neck” when someone throws a slop bucket full of last night’s curry out of a window.! Ok, now I know this doesn’t happen anymore (although it did to Britney Spears a few months ago but that was due to her singing late at night, badly, in a built up area) but why has no one ever told me. If I had known that there was a small chance I could be wandering down a street, deep in conversation with someone to find myself suddenly awash with faeces and dripping all over, then I would have stood by the wall or carried an umbrella everywhere. Dear me.!
All I request is that future generations of us poor guys should be warned that being chivalrous can lead to shite in the hair.!!
On a related note, the programme was presented by Mr Bazalgette’s great great grandson who works as a TV Producer and brought us the delights of Big Brother…. see 120 years and STILL that family is throwing around shit, oh you saw that gag coming. Sorry.
Boop-poop-pee-doo Oooop.!