Frozen

I enjoyed a lovely Christmas at church, then out for dinner and good company. However, all that was followed by the realisation that the rectory had no water. It's likely to be a frozen pipe from the mains to the house, in which case all I can do is wait for the thaw to kick in. Toilets are getting 'interesting', but I managed a shower at a friend's yesterday. Thinking that I'll need to scrounge water from other friends if this continues much longer. I've been on the phone to British Gas who maintain and repair this stuff for us, but can't get a reply (currently been hanging on the phone for ninety minutes without being answered). I suspect there is nothing they can do anyway, but I need to try. I was supposed to have dinner guests yesterday but put them off until today. I'm now thinking that I'll have to postpone again.

This experience has given me a deeper appreciation of that which we take for granted in this country: the immediate availability of clean water. Too many people in the world don't have that, and while these last few days without water have been difficult for me, it's an everyday circumstance for so many.   

Comments

[m0ok]

Ditto!

Happened to us last year too - the mains supply pipe to our flat seems to freeze in Epic Sub-Zero Temperatures. Last winter we just rode it out until the thaw and the water came back on after a couple of weeks. We're in the same boat this year, too.

[Lis]

We started to truly realise how much we take clean water for granted while working on Amazon Hope with the Vine Trust. We no longer use mains water for flushing toilets at home but save "grey" water for that purpose. It seemed a small but achievable gesture of kinship with other people who have so little and the obscenity of using water of potable quality to flush a loo really struck us. Hope you soon regain the option to flush your loos however you choose!

[ryan]

Sorry about the pipes. Perhaps the West End Bachelor Pad is a good idea after all! ;-)

[m0ok]

That's really interesting Lis - do you find you generate enough 'grey' water for enough flushes?

We're currently using 5 litres of water per flush at our place (we're filling bottles from neighbours' taps) and flushing a couple of times a day - are you able to flush using less or are you finding that generating 10 litres of grey isn't a problem?

Cheers :)

[Lis]

To quote someone in one of the "Fokkers" films, "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" ! ! Maybe too much information for so early in the New Year.