You may remember my bit of writing last year about the discovery of a huge, rancid blob of congealed and largely solidified human waste, fat, oil, wet wipes and litter in the sewers under a part of London, England.
If not, then here is the link for you to catch up ;What lurks beneath
Since February this year a rugby ball sized fragment of the infamous Fatberg has been on display at the Museum of London for visitors to see and appreciate.
It is in fact the last surviving piece of the phenomena that was Fatberg with the other 130 tons having been destroyed in the process of its removal from the subterranean maze of City drainage sewers.
It was indeed fortunate that someone at the Museum had the idea to salvage and exhibit the piece as it has proven to be quite an attraction with talk of an extended period for viewing beyond the planned 6 months.
An inanimate object it is certainly not; far from it as it remains very organic and has been observed as sweating, changing colour and even spawning flies and other insects who have, in egg form, enjoyed the humid and nutritious ingredients.
There is no hiding from the fact that the congealed substance is highly toxic to humans and precautions against the escape of noxious fumes and gases have included a double glass layered display box and a very restricted list of those allowed to go near it and even then in full anti-bacteriological protective clothing.
Its presence amongst cultural, social and economic exhibits representing London has transformed the septic mass into something of an art installation as well as arousing the curiosity of the public who have asked many questions about it of the Curators.
The most popular enquiry is about "what does the thing smell like?"
The privileged few who have involuntarily inhaled even through Hazmat Grade equipment liken it to a cross between a festival chemical toilet and an old fashioned wash-day with a faint soapy odour. The latter is attributed to the reaction of the fat deposits with salts in the sewer environment in the process known as saponification.
So, not as repulsive as you may think although the sight of regular seepage of moisture from the body of waste remains a strong deterrent to the casual sniffer or sampler.
The birthplace of the Fatberg in a population area but also in proximity to a hospital and food based businesses did dictate a very cautious approach by the Museum prior to setting up the display and this involved the taking of an X-Ray to detect any needles, scalpels, human blood or other nasties.
No metals were actually found.
The most talked about feature is a protruding wrapper from what appears to be a Cadbury's Double Decker chocolate bar.
The fatberg has attained something of a Cult Status to the extent that poems and short stories have been inspired by it and there are tentative ideas about a theatrical themed show.
Perhaps the wierdest spin off has been the making of a replica of the fatberg as a cake complete with that extruding sweet wrapper.
Like many things now enshrined in popular culture the blob may just run and run.............
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