Full circle

摘要

If you want to take life easy, things don't get much more sedate than a sunny afternoon spent on canals, chugging through the British countryside on a slow boat to nowhere in particular. But the tranquillity is deceptive: after 50 years of neglect, Britain's crumbling canal network is undergoing a revolution. When the engineers of the Industrial Revolution strode about the country undertaking heroic feats of construction, the waterways were among their most impressive creations. Their great aqueducts and tunnels and flights of locks helped burgeoning industries transport their raw materials and finished goods, and supplied the water needed to run their steam engines. By the end of the 18th century the network stretched over 8000 kilometres and carried some 30 million tonnes of materials every year. Today's revolution is different. Tourism and leisure are leading the way, followed by plans for a new national water grid, a telecommunications network and even a modest amount of freight. What remains the same, however, is the sheer ambition of the engineers, this time aiming to build a network fit for the 21st century.