WHAT better moment than the dawn of the third Millennium at which to consider the wisdom and foresight of our father in the first. When Petillius Cerialis built his fort at the confluence of the Ouse and Foss in AD71, he did so because of, rather than in spite of, these transport properties.

How wonderful, therefore, to see water lapping against the foot of the mount at Clifford's Tower, just as its builders intended. If we still had all our moats, dug out to correct depth - not to mention Layerthorpe Marsh and the King's Fishpool - the floods would have somewhere to go.

I know it's easy for me to pontificate from the dry slopes of Heworth - and my heart does go out to those whose homes have been inundated - but the positioning of much 19th and 20th century property owes much to imperial and economic hubris.

The Victorians may be forgiven for imagining that the sun would never set on their empire but, in York at least, they should have anticipated that the tide would eventually rise over it.

J E Muldowney,

Second Avenue,

Heworth,

York.