The rebirth of the palimpsest

How often do I get to use the word 'palimpsest'? Figuratively, perhaps, but literally, a document which has been scraped clean so that the valuable parchment can be reused, where remnants of the original text can be detected under its successor? How often does that happen in these days of cheap paper and free electrons?

Except that when durham_rambler sent out the agenda for tonight's residents' meeting, he used last month's agenda as a template, and - as a neighbour has just pointed out - failed to change the date. What's that, if not a palimpsest?

Come to think of it, those websites whose back pages are embarrassingly full of 'lorem ipsum' - palimpsests!