Timeline: 2 July 2013: The weather has finally decided to stick to summer settings and it’s
been lovely and warm recently, which has coincided happily with both gites
being occupied. Our guests in the Maison du Vigneron arrived early in the day after an
overnight ferry and by tea time were all ready to hit the showers in readiness
for a stroll up to one of our local village restaurants. Tim politely mentioned
that his shower tray wasn’t emptying very well and I thought I may need to
clean out the trap when I noticed outside, a small and expanding lake spreading under
the gates from the manhole on the other side and realised in a flash that the challenge had become much bigger!
The drain
was obviously blocked after the manhole, which meant that someone sometime very soon
was going to be in deep merde. On emptying the blocked manhole with a small bucket into an
adjacent functioning one (we thankfully have two separate drainage systems) the confirmation that the problem was with the water
board's pipe outside our property didn't really help me feel any better.
Matters only got worse as when telephoned, they were found to be closed for
breakdowns today! I just hope the fire brigade don’t work that system!
Anyway,
my friend Robert next door came round to have a look and we ended up digging down
to the offending pipe and found a cleaning access point buried half a metre
underground and soon enough, problem solved! We also extended the access point
to ground level, so not to have to excavate another big hole if the brown stuff
ever decides to aim for the fan again . . . so we’ can continue to come up
smelling of roses. Well, after all, we are called Le Clos de la Rose :)
The
day has ended happily and there is a night rain gently falling which has saved
me 20 minutes of watering the plants, so I’m off to make a cuppa and am looking
forward to the bride arriving tomorrow for two glorious weeks.
A bientôt,
LC
