The scrapyard system has much to recommend itself, not least a history going back five thousand years, but would be entirely unworkable 'on the ground'. With modern tools and machinery it really is little bother to remake lost columns. But the skills to do that are now almost lost. (Cheques and postal orders to the address on the label, please).

There's still a lot of superstitious belief tied up in stone. How about if the stones included in municipal plantings and gardens were required to 'be in harmony with the sky'? I t would need to be ruled by the European Parliament, but it could be done.