Not sure how many of you know that the current series of Coast, shown every Thursday on BBC Two, are actually new episodes. Great! Even though I think they might have lost a little of their freshness and enthusiasm, they are still doing great.
Except of course this one, shown towards the end of the original December 14th broadcast: When they explore the Sheerness estuary and report on the large number of undetonated WW-II grenades still under water and still being recovered, they show how these then, once salvaged, can be bundled up with a piece of plastic explosives, and be subjected to a controlled explosion.
The control in that explosion went so far as they triggered the ignition, dropped the package into the sea "to dampen the effects of the explosion", and headed off to a safe distance, from where to watch the spectacle.
Not so happy were all the fish in they surrounding area, as they may all have died from a burst swim bladder. Dynamite fishing is banned internationally for the exact same reason. How dare they use the same method to get rid of those bomb shells? And the Open University program not even questioning the practise but having a good laugh at the spectacular fountain?
I think they’re still fighting the war off the North Kent Coast. I spent most of my childhood holidays in Herne Bay so I know it well. When you can see sea forts on the horizon and hear guns if you listen carefully (there must be a firing range within earshot if the wind is right)it must give you a strange mindset.