The Victorian sewers, which run from the city centre for five miles to Naburn, are being replaced at the moment, with a fair amount of disruption to traffic, my Sunday morning walk and one of the last breeding grounds of the Tansy beetle.

It amuses me that these pipes, which are soon to be buried for another century or more, are painted in such bright colours. It is almost euphemistic, an attempt to take our thoughts away from what their function really is.