Blagg

The picture shown above was from my long walk out of Lincoln on Tuesday. I had just passed under the Eastern Bypass Bridge which opened in late 2020. On the horizon you can see Lincoln Cathedral rising above the city. I waited for vehicles to pass over the bridge, hoping for  one interesting shot and I think I got that with the white "Blagg" van - "Blagg" being a plant hire company.

I was also pleased  with this shot that I took after descending from the northern bank of The River Witham. I especially like the shadows of the footbridge and the wooden footpath sign. The path ahead leads into the village of Fiskerton where  many ancient artefacts including The Witham Shield have been found dating back far into the mists of time along with the remains of a wooden causeway from a time when the surrounding land was not drained and rivers were not hemmed in by man made banks.

The Witham Shield dates back to around 400 BC. It is roughly a metre in height and is housed in The British Museum in London. There is a replica in Lincoln Museum. What remains is the shield's bronze facing including fabulous fine metal working on the central boss. The main wooden back to the shield rotted away long ago.

Our ancestors sing to us in many different ways and not just in the form of ruins, burial mounds, stone circles and found objects. They walked the paths that we walk today. Of course there were far less of them in those bygone days. The population of this entire planet in 500BC is estimated to have been around 100 million. In 2024 there are some 8.2 billion human beings here. The difference in just 2500 years is startling.

You could put it this way. There are over 80 people alive today for ever ancient human who was alive in 500BC.

Addendum

Yesterday, the visits counter on this blog passed four million and I am pretty pleased about that. It has taken nineteen years and five months to attract this huge number of views, averaging over 17,000 hits a month. Thanks to all genuine readers who have called by over the months and years...