I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river
from Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
Is a strong brown god – sullen, untamed and intractable,
Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;
Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;
Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges.
The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten
By the dwellers in cities – ever, however, implacable.
Keeping his seasons, and rages, destroyer, reminder
Of what men choose to forget. Unhonoured, unpropitiated
By worshippers of the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting.
![](https://www.sarahwoodall.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/sun.jpg)
![](https://www.sarahwoodall.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/upstairs.jpg)
![](https://www.sarahwoodall.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/diningtable.jpg)
![](https://www.sarahwoodall.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/rain.jpg)
![](https://www.sarahwoodall.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ducks.jpg)
These are some photographs of our garden during the great Cambridge flood of 22nd-23rd October 2001. The water had already gone down somewhat by the time we took these pictures: we were too busy for the first few hours moving our possessions upstairs in case it came any higher.
This blog post is re-created from a web page that I made soon after the flood in 2001. I added the photo captions in 2021. I have back-dated the post to match the date the photos were taken.