The modern challenges that are posed by the red weed, left in the wake of the 1903/1904 Martian invasion of England, as documented by the writer HG Wells
Crossposted to r/Imaginary London (This article was written in late September, 2022, predating the amendments to the 1953 Mars Act, which will become law in the UK at the end of March 2023) ~ image generated by Craiyon “The problem is, this year, we had what the weathermen call a red Summer,” explains Tim Sandry. “Very hot and very dry. It always brings the Mars weed out.” He loops the long strap of the broad-headed rake around his wrist, then launches it partway across the river. It lands horizontally on a spongy morass of red Martian weed that has completely clogged the surface along this stretch of The Wandle, partially damming the channel and resulting in a dangerous rise in the water level upstream. Drawing-in the strap, raises the wooden handle, at which point the short, sharp prongs bite down through the fibrous tangle. With a considerable effort, that is accompanied by a serpentine motion of the rake head, he is eventually able to detach a small section of the weed-mass and dra...