…'It rained, and it rained, and it rained. Christopher Robin had never seen so much rain!' It's been raining very heavily, due to the N.E. monsoon (the S.W. monsoon being over), for the last 4 days (and nights too - only 36 more to go). The level of the lagoon waters rose and rose, and then the man in charge of the floodgates opened them up and the water ran out to the sea. It's a good thing he hasn't fallen asleep on the job, or we would have been washed away long ago, I don't actually understand the purpose of the floodgate which closes the channel leading to the sea. I had always thought a floodgate was something on 2 dam to prevent floods. The gate here, however, seems to serve the sole purpose of causing floods, and it is only when it's removed (or raised) that the danger, as well as the waters, subside, I recall Ray Bradbury's science-fiction novel, Farenheit 451 (471? 457?) in which firemen no longer serve the function of putting out fires, but of starting them, and the analogy has certain aspects which are quite alarming.
Something else I don't understand is why the lagoon is salty. (I know why the sea is salty, of course - many many years ago I was informed that it was due to a magic salt box at the bottom which continues turning out the stuff – but the lagoon?) The only source of water to the lagoon, as far as I can tell, is rain water. (There might be a small river on the other side, but that water would also be fresh.) And each time the floodgates are providentially raised, salt water runs out to the sea. Therefore the lagoon should become perpetually less salty. But it doesn't. Perhaps some engineer or divinity student can explain this…
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