Wednesday 22 June 2011

Twenty Four Hours!

Monday morning: The men arrived to repair the pool. The weather forecast put the Island on Amber alert as a heat wave was sweeping in and temperatures of 40c in the shade were expected. And, the Drain expert company came to check the drains! ... and this was just the beginning!

A few weeks ago our swimming pool began to leak, enough to warrant attention, and so we organised for it to be repaired. We were told that it must be emptied on Sunday, ready for work to begin Monday. No problems! Well that is what we thought, what happened next .....

On the Saturday we noted that when we flushed the toilets or took a shower the water backed up and came back. Trying not to panic as it was the weekend, we made several checks our self and realised that things were more serious than we wanted to think about.

Monday - as planned, the pool men got to work, they sanded down the pool, a plume of cloud hovered over the garden, falling down onto everything inside and out! The temperature shot up to around 35c in the shade! And the Drain company told us the drains were blocked and worse the pipe appeared to be crushed - a snazzy camera confirmed this. We needed to start digging to find the pipe. By the end of Monday we had Kangooed part of our tiled entrance pathway (it is normal here to have tiled pathways - they do look nice!) Followed by busting out several centimetres of very stubborn concrete. Hooray we found the pipe. But that was just the beginning.

With little rain on the island, tree roots look for water from any source and it seemed at some point in the past our sewer pipe had a tiny fracture. The desperate for water tree roots were in there and hence the beginning of our problem.


Tuesday - we were told a trench of around three and half metres deep and a metre wide needed to be dug along a long length of the garden to expose the pipe. There are two large trees in that location - the source of the problem as they had wheedled their little noses into our sewer pipe and wolfed not only the water, but crushed the pipe. We now have to take out these trees - the roots are around six to eight inches in circumference and each of the trees has several of these beasties! "Help," we cried, but there was none. Those who we called were too busy and others did  not want to work in the high temperatures. So boldly going where only fools go, we started the big dig and root removal. The temperature yesterday in our corner of digging was 50c degrees. Today, it has not been much better We have calculated that in between our other commitments, sadly we have these! We should have the first trench open and ready for the drain expert to lay a new pipe early next week. Fingers crossed! When I say first, there is a chance we may have to dig up rooms in the villa too!

What a time to have to do all this work when we could not even fall into our pool to cool off. By the way, the pool should be ready next week. I bet the heat wave will have gone by then and hopefully the new sewer pipe laid too!

To add insult to injury, Barney our doggy was ill yesterday and I spent much of the day, in between everything else, cleaning up after him. At 2am this morning he had us both up as he was ill again. After cleaning up we had to bath him. This morning, he his perfectly fine, running around, woofing and being his usual self. Unlike us!


I will end now on a cheerful note, I had a lovely review for Sometime It Happens... from Amanda Rutter of Floor to Ceiling Books. What made this review a little special was that Amanda does not normally review Indie Published (Self Published) books. Sometimes It Happens... was her first into this area, she ended her review saying, "Altogether, I'm pleased that my first foray into self-published works was a success. I was entertained by the story of Doreen Wilkinson, and would recommend this as an easy read on a summer's afternoon."

17 comments:

Maureen A. Miller said...

Oh my goodness, Pauline! You have to update this blog tomorrow because it reads like a novel and I'm on the edge of my seat awaiting the outcome! And poor Barney. And poor you.

Stay strong, dear lady. :)

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

You sound like you're having rather a tough time of it at the moment. I hope all the work is sorted soon.

Glad to hear Barney is on the mend and congratulations on your fab review.

Pauline Barclay said...

Hi Maureen, we are getting there, be it slowly, the heat does not help, it makes you feel pretty yuk, but we will get there! I promise to update again later this week. As for Barney, he is full on...so pleased! Have a fab day xx

Hello Debs as always, thanks for stopping by. It's a bit tough at the moment, but we'll get it sorted. Barney is full on and back to being Barney! Thanks for your kind words on the review. Hugs P xx

Bluestocking Mum said...

Glad to hear Barney is back on track. Probably heat exhaustion. x

Rosalind Adam said...

Sorry to hear that things are so difficult for you right now. I do hope you can get your drains working and that lovely pool of yours full of gloriously cool water (it's well chilly here in the UK tho!!)

Poor Barney. I hope whatever it was has worked its way through his system and he'll soon be sending wet hairy licks to my two girls who have asked me to send lots of furry cuddles to him. Hope he's back on his paws again very soon.

Pauline Barclay said...

Hi Bluestocking Mum, thanks for calling by, Barney is back to normal and full on!

Hello Ros, these things happen, just a pity it is so seriously hot! The pool will be filled at the end of the weekend and as for Barney, he's full on! He sends woofs for the furry cuddles from your girls and big licks back! x

Unknown said...

You have my sympathy, Pauline. I remember my father having a similar problem with tree roots/drains but of course, that was in the UK where the risk was of heavy rain rather than unbearable heat.

I hope you get everything sorted and are soon sitting by your pool, relaxing with a chilled glass of something tasty.

I hope poor Barney stays better. Perhaps the heat got to him?

Good luck!

Talli Roland said...

Congrats on the fab review from Amanda! :) Yay!

And I'm glad Barney is better.

Pauline Barclay said...

Hi Shirley, it will all get sorted in the end and Barney is just as cuddly as ever! x

Hi Talli, thanks for the congrats, I thought Amanda was very honest and fair! Just need to up my sales...!x

Chris Stovell said...

Oh you poor thing! What a dreadful time you're having of it - but still managing to sound cheerful. I do hope it all gets sorted out soon.

Writer Pat Newcombe said...

Hi pauline
You've been awarded the Stylish Blogger award. Can you stop by my blog to collect at some point?
Thanks
Pat

Pauline Barclay said...

Hello Chris, thanks for calling by, it will get sorted, hopefully tomorrow will be a tad cooler then I can wheal the shovel...laugh! x

Hi Pat, I'll be over to collect, thank you so much! x

Janice said...

Oh you poor thing - I was in a sweat just reading about your ordeal - and poor Barney too!

I just heard you are a loveahappyending author - yay!:)

Janice x

Pauline Barclay said...

Hello Janice, laugh at you sweating! It drips down my face when I'm digging, but we are nearly there...I hope....phew!

And yes, I'm with you! All so exciting! Have a fab weekend and thanks for calling by. x

Eileen Schuh: said...

Congrats on the review!

Pauline Barclay said...

Thanks Eileen. x

Cara said...

I hope all is well again in paradise? Look at little Barney's face in that picture. He knows how to get sympathy.