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Better Than A Soap Opera...
Nov. 4th, 2011 06:13 pmSo... After a day spent stumbling around a coniferous plantation with The Classicist (during which time we managed to complete both standing building surveys and the required two outstanding elevations - PHEW!!!) it was back to a warm cosy library for the next thrilling installment of the Glasgow Water Works...
I can't be bothered with soap opera. The whole genre leaves me cold. I just don't find the machinations of a bunch of a useless wallies in London or deepest darkest Yorkshire or even Glasgow remotely interesting. But I do like a good yarn. All it takes to get me hooked is the added ingredient of a horse, or a space ship, or a steam train or something slightly out of the ordinary. Oh, and a gripping narrative and - most of all - some engaging characters.
After Day One in my archive trawl, I wasn't convinced that the Saga of the Glasgow Water Works was going to deliver the above. Frankly, endless discussions about quantities of cast iron pipes were a bit of a yawn. But today (Day Two) was something of a tipping point. After ploughing through more of the Glasgow Water Company letters book, I was rivetted (As were the component parts of Mister Watt's steam engines, no doubt, but that's another story). Halfway through the day, I had a brief fleeting impression of the trailer for 'Reservoir Dogs' - you know, the one with all the characters wandering along to a groovy rock track, but instead of 'Mr White' and 'Mr Pink' it was 'Mr Telford', 'Mr Howell' (the Resident Engineer) and 'Mr Denny' (who writes the letters, but never gives his title - presumably he's the Clerk of Works, or equivalent).
They were of course all dressed up in their early nineteenth century costume, and even though I haven't a clue what Mr Howell and Mr Denny look like, I'm at least formulating an impression, however inaccurate it may be. Sadly, History hasn't immortalised them in the way that it was immortalised Mr Telford...
I won't be going back to the archives until next Wednesday. Until then, I am on tenterhooks. Did Mr Denny finally get the consignment of 2, 3, 4 and 5 inch cast iron pipes that he needed to continue his work from the steelworks. in Sheffleld? Did the missing 16 nine inch cast pipes that were lost in the wreck of the Earl of Dalkeith, somewhere off Alnmouth, eventually get recovered? And were they salvageable after their brief sojourn in the North Sea? Did the Anderston Water Company beat the Glasgow Water Company in the desperate race to be the first to supply Glasgow's long-suffering populace with wholesome fresh water?
And just when, exactly, do Messrs. Boulton and Watt get involved in this enterprise?
The suspense is killing me... Though at least I know already that I've aleady got more than enough information at my fingertips to write an engaging report about the enterprise, which is I'm sure what the chap who commissioned the job is looking for!
I can't be bothered with soap opera. The whole genre leaves me cold. I just don't find the machinations of a bunch of a useless wallies in London or deepest darkest Yorkshire or even Glasgow remotely interesting. But I do like a good yarn. All it takes to get me hooked is the added ingredient of a horse, or a space ship, or a steam train or something slightly out of the ordinary. Oh, and a gripping narrative and - most of all - some engaging characters.
After Day One in my archive trawl, I wasn't convinced that the Saga of the Glasgow Water Works was going to deliver the above. Frankly, endless discussions about quantities of cast iron pipes were a bit of a yawn. But today (Day Two) was something of a tipping point. After ploughing through more of the Glasgow Water Company letters book, I was rivetted (As were the component parts of Mister Watt's steam engines, no doubt, but that's another story). Halfway through the day, I had a brief fleeting impression of the trailer for 'Reservoir Dogs' - you know, the one with all the characters wandering along to a groovy rock track, but instead of 'Mr White' and 'Mr Pink' it was 'Mr Telford', 'Mr Howell' (the Resident Engineer) and 'Mr Denny' (who writes the letters, but never gives his title - presumably he's the Clerk of Works, or equivalent).
They were of course all dressed up in their early nineteenth century costume, and even though I haven't a clue what Mr Howell and Mr Denny look like, I'm at least formulating an impression, however inaccurate it may be. Sadly, History hasn't immortalised them in the way that it was immortalised Mr Telford...
I won't be going back to the archives until next Wednesday. Until then, I am on tenterhooks. Did Mr Denny finally get the consignment of 2, 3, 4 and 5 inch cast iron pipes that he needed to continue his work from the steelworks. in Sheffleld? Did the missing 16 nine inch cast pipes that were lost in the wreck of the Earl of Dalkeith, somewhere off Alnmouth, eventually get recovered? And were they salvageable after their brief sojourn in the North Sea? Did the Anderston Water Company beat the Glasgow Water Company in the desperate race to be the first to supply Glasgow's long-suffering populace with wholesome fresh water?
And just when, exactly, do Messrs. Boulton and Watt get involved in this enterprise?
The suspense is killing me... Though at least I know already that I've aleady got more than enough information at my fingertips to write an engaging report about the enterprise, which is I'm sure what the chap who commissioned the job is looking for!
