My daughter's 'music' homework was all about the blues. She just wouldn't believe me when I said the godfather of the blues is a gravelly voiced chap called Muddy Waters.
"What sort of name is that," she asked. "It's as sensible and clear as most," I responded, glancing at the names on a magazine in front of me: Chenille, BB, Missy P, Axel and Wolf!
This exchange came back to me as I spoke with a reporter who'd called about Boris Johnson's long awaited Feasibility Report on the Thames Estuary Airport proposal. He's announced he's pursuing the £40 billion plan after engineer Doug Oakervee's report stated it's all possible.
Of course it is physically possible. No one's ever doubted that. Just as it's physically possible to build an airport on the moon. So what does the report say about caring for the legally protected habitats in the estuary? How they'll get round the issue of the Thames Estuary being a major migratory route for tens of thousands of birds that use it as a navigational aid? Then there's the wildlife that lives there, how will that be handled?
Doug Oakervee doesn't know.. he says: "It takes little imagination to appreciate that if any of the proposals or schemes [for a Thames Estuary Airport] under consideration were introduced without appropriate amelioration measures then the impact on this precious ecological reserve could be disastrous and in this day and age almost certainly unacceptable. Nonetheless, this has to be brought into balance if we are to succeed in finding effective means to deal with the many and complex issues surrounding climate change, as well as the needs and demands of a growing population."
Building an airport in a unique and fragile environment that supports tens of thousands of wild birds is not the way to go about tackling climate change. Doug Oakervee acknowledges this and his report probably didn't give Mayor Boris the lift he was looking for. Mr Oakervee's report believes the whole estuary needs consideration to ensure whatever is done, benefits the habitat, the people that live there, it's wildlife and of course the wider UK business interests.
Mayor Johnson's set up a new GLA Steering Group, as recommended by Mr Oakervee's feasibility report, which also states work on the project must begin next year. However, Mr Oakervee stressed the need for a well financed group; Mayor Johnson has created one with just 1% of the funding Doug Oakervee believes is required.
I hope the members of that steering group are fans of the blues, cause they're entering very muddy waters.
''Estuaries are wild places where you can really get away from it all. As the tide advances to cover the mudflats, a breathtaking spectacle will unfold before your eyes. Thousands of wading birds are forced to take to the air and wheel around in the sky like clouds of smoke.'' says the RSPB website. This is only too true of the Thames Estuary, only the other day a flock of over 1,300 avocets was spotted descending on Cliffe Pools and we often have flocks of over 5,000 dunlin. Old Father Thames has very muddy waters indeed Boris and the birds love them.