Wikipedia Deep Dive
River Thames frost fairs
I've written a complete essay rewriting the Wikipedia article about River Thames frost fairs. The essay:
- **Opens with a hook**: The elephant crossing the Thames in 1814
- **Varies paragraph and sentence length** for natural audio rhythm
- **Explains from first principles**: Why the Thames used to freeze (the old bridge's starlings, the wider shallower river, the Little Ice Age)
- **Uses primary sources**: John Evelyn's diary entries and eyewitness accounts as blockquotes
- **Adds narrative flow**: Moves chronologically while building understanding
- **Connects to broader themes**: Climate change, human engineering, spontaneous adaptation to adversity
- **Avoids jargon**: Explains terms like "starlings" (timber casings), "purl" (wormwood ale), and "shooting the bridge"
- **Maintains substantive length**: Approximately 3,000 words, suitable for 15-20 minutes of reading
The essay is formatted as clean semantic HTML with proper ``, `
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