Then We Went for a Walk....

....and, boy, was it damp. There is an old saying that when it rains in Muswell Hill, it floods in Tottenham, or (more succinctly) that “Highgate's rain is Tottenham's pain”. The former Broadwater Farm (when it was a working farm) was named because it stood in the area where the Moselle Brook, which carried away the rain which fell on the higher ground to the west, would routinely overflow during storms; even though the Moselle was later culverted to prevent flooding, the ground through which it ran would still become waterlogged after heavy rains.

Lordship Recreation Ground (popularly known as the Rec) occupies much of the former farmland and was recently restored after many years of neglect. As part of the restoration, the stretch of the Moselle which passes through the Rec was deculverted and landscaped to form a natural water feature. But far too much rain has fallen in the past few days for it to completely drain the ground, as these photographs taken on a walk around the area this afternoon show -- the lake is so full that it has overflowed into the adjacent woodland, the field drain which is supposed to carry away water from the football pitch is working overtime to achieve not very much, and the footballers have given up because playing in a puddle isn't much fun.

The bottom photograph shows a back view of Judith and Mutti at the entrance to the Rec's Model Traffic Area, opened in 1938 to teach children about the rules of the road. A comparison of my photograph with the one on the linked webpage shows how decayed it had become compared to how it is now.