Tilting at windmills in Waterloo

There's a windmill in Waterloo. I suppose if you want to be more exact, it's more of a wind turbine really. It's by the new Hungerford footbridge, just shy of the millennium wheel. When I first saw it the wind was blowing in a direction such that the windmill pointed right at the wheel. It looked as though the windmill was blowing the wheel around. The thought amused me a little.

Strangely there was no information around to say why the windmill there. Not a word of explanation that I could see. And I looked (although I declined to scramble over the tall steel fence with rather evil looking sharp pronged points on top that encircled it).

The next time I passed the along the footbridge a tree sprayed a thick mist of water over some Japanese tourists and flashed some pretty lights at them. The tourists looked rather confused. And wet. I don't believe the tree intended any animosity towards the tourists, although it was rather difficult to gather any information from the tree itself. It spoke very little, although it the noises it made were pleasing to the ear.

There is an explanation for all these events I discovered. I rather like the fact that the display is so poorly signposted. It gives the whole thing a charming mystique.

I hold a particular fondness for the tree that soaks unwary passerbys. I've often suspected trees to have more finely developed sense of humour than they are generally credited with and I'm happy to see them given the means to exercise it.