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[Purveyor]

This message was self-deleted by its author (Purveyor) on Thu Dec 5, 2013, 02:55 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[AtheistCrusader]

1. London barrier lifted?

As in, raised into position? Gotten out of the way? What?


Edit, ok, they are going to CLOSE the barrier.

Wow, this thing is beautiful.

[jberryhill]

3. Presumably, from context, it would indicate...

...something along the lines of activated to its operative configuration, as it would seem somewhat odd for it to have the meaning of "actively rendered inoperative" in anticipation of the harm it is designed to prevent.

But that's just a contextual guess. Maybe they wanted to give the water a sporting chance.

It appears to work by raising walls from the inoperative configuration:

Here's a video of the barrier in operation:

[AtheistCrusader]

5. You'd think englishmen would SPEAK ENGLISH LOL

I think they used 'raise' and 'lifted' interchangeably, as in 'raising a barrier'.

In American English it sounds like they are getting it out of the way. My first assumption was 'holy shit, they are REMOVING the flood protection because its just going to swamp and break it anyway'.

[jberryhill]

6. That was my read of the headline as well

But I went with the contextual presumption.

You can never really tell, though, what the British have in mind.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. Thanks for the diagram video. That helps immensely.

I suppose the proper term ought to be 'rotated into position'.

[jberryhill]

10. Thames Barrier Screwed As Britain Floods...

[XemaSab]

9. I had that same thought

Like sometimes with dams, they just open the gates on the thing and flood everything downstream so the dam itself doesn't break.

Also, I need to call the insurance agent and ask about flood insurance.

I'm right downriver from this guy:

[elleng]

11. 'Maybe they wanted to give the water a sporting chance.'

Thanks for that, berryhill!

[Ezlivin]

4. It's like they're inviting the waters in!

I, too, had to re-read that sentence to make sense of it.

[jberryhill]

8. Why Can't The English Learn How To Speak?

[dipsydoodle]

12. Yes - put in place.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Thames barrier went up last night.

Background to its very existence is largely 1953's events.