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Had a lovely relaxing day/night with friends and their baby, who did an impressive projectile vomit all over my clothes. Just felt a bit guilty about putting said clothes through my friends' washing machine and wasting water, though they assure me they're on a separate water system there. Anyway, nice and relaxing and then mid-afternoon Monday I went to catch the bus home and got a cellphone call from my painter to say the supply pipe to one of my outdoor taps had burst bigtimes so he'd called in a plumber to look and put in temporary repairs (which arrangement I ratified verbally and most gratefully) but there might be no water overnight. I said no problem, I've got about 12 litres stored in the pantry again anyway on the "Disasters: they can always get worse" principle.
(The pipe was apparently heavily rusted. The earthquake may or may not have exacerbated the problem. I suppose I can try passing the cost on to EQC and see what they say. The bill, while not insignificant, won't break the bank otherwise.)
Since I was doing shopping on the way home and buses remain highly irregular both painter and plumber were long gone by the time I got there (a bit exhausted from the long ride and irritated from a fellow passenger determined to complain about slow buses rather than be grateful that we have buses at all, or at least just read a book while waiting as I'd been doing before he interrupted to complain at me). The bill left for me was quite emphatic, with all-caps and everything, that this was a temporary repair only and the pipe needs proper replacing as soon as possible. But water still worked, once it had run rusty-orange and cleared again, so that was good.
Also when my sister came to spend the night she brought 3 litres of actual drinking water, which my mother had fetched from somewhere without contaminated water.
The water pressure was a bit dodgy though, so I wasn't overly surprised when I attempted to take a shower this morning and found there wasn't enough pressure for the shower to work. (It's an electric system, heats the water as it comes through, so presumably doesn't work unless there's sufficient water to heat; certainly this seems a wise failsafe.)
Had various things to do today and worse yet, various buses to catch to do them. I ended up just not going to choir tonight because I'd barely got home when I'd have had to leave -- the last bus crawled horribly slowly around Moorhouse and Fitzgerald. Plus and also I've been tired to the edge of tears all afternoon so holding them back through choir too, especially knowing I've got another long day tomorrow, would be too much. I could probably have made a bit of time to call the plumber from work, but right now it's actually far easier to just revert to earthquake mode and have sponge baths.
After all, it's not like I need to even fill the tank in the toilet--
[Interlude: in which she remembers that it's time to empty the toilet, and goes for a walk while there's still a smidgeon of light left outside. ( Cut for those incurious to the workings of chemical toilets. )]
--and I have plenty of clean clothes and dishes so could last a while on my pantry water. However the painters, judging by how they moved some stuff out of a sink I rarely use, seem like they do need water more than I, so I guess tomorrow I'll phone the plumber and see if he's available to finish the job.
I have a mug of fresh water at my feet (segueing on from a quarter-mug of wine. I rarely drink wine even at meals but today's the third day in the last half-year when I've got home and decided that it would be appropriate to swallow some wine. I think it's more for the gesture than anything else) which Boots is expressing interest in. This isn't proof that her waterbowl needs refilling, as she expresses interest in most things I eat or drink, but it reminds me that it does in fact need refilling. And that our tapwater is currently chlorinated. Fortunately the kettle is full of cold boiled-the-heck-out-of water, and if you don't think chlorine is part of heck then you haven't heard the reaction of 350,000 ChurChurians to the news that our precious aquifer water is to be so tainted. (Gastro bug, meh. Chlorine, NO, THEY BE STEALING OUR WATERS!)
<holds head a bit>
Days like today are why I bought chocolate and pizza at the supermarket the other-- No, wait, yesterday.
(The pipe was apparently heavily rusted. The earthquake may or may not have exacerbated the problem. I suppose I can try passing the cost on to EQC and see what they say. The bill, while not insignificant, won't break the bank otherwise.)
Since I was doing shopping on the way home and buses remain highly irregular both painter and plumber were long gone by the time I got there (a bit exhausted from the long ride and irritated from a fellow passenger determined to complain about slow buses rather than be grateful that we have buses at all, or at least just read a book while waiting as I'd been doing before he interrupted to complain at me). The bill left for me was quite emphatic, with all-caps and everything, that this was a temporary repair only and the pipe needs proper replacing as soon as possible. But water still worked, once it had run rusty-orange and cleared again, so that was good.
Also when my sister came to spend the night she brought 3 litres of actual drinking water, which my mother had fetched from somewhere without contaminated water.
The water pressure was a bit dodgy though, so I wasn't overly surprised when I attempted to take a shower this morning and found there wasn't enough pressure for the shower to work. (It's an electric system, heats the water as it comes through, so presumably doesn't work unless there's sufficient water to heat; certainly this seems a wise failsafe.)
Had various things to do today and worse yet, various buses to catch to do them. I ended up just not going to choir tonight because I'd barely got home when I'd have had to leave -- the last bus crawled horribly slowly around Moorhouse and Fitzgerald. Plus and also I've been tired to the edge of tears all afternoon so holding them back through choir too, especially knowing I've got another long day tomorrow, would be too much. I could probably have made a bit of time to call the plumber from work, but right now it's actually far easier to just revert to earthquake mode and have sponge baths.
After all, it's not like I need to even fill the tank in the toilet--
[Interlude: in which she remembers that it's time to empty the toilet, and goes for a walk while there's still a smidgeon of light left outside. ( Cut for those incurious to the workings of chemical toilets. )]
--and I have plenty of clean clothes and dishes so could last a while on my pantry water. However the painters, judging by how they moved some stuff out of a sink I rarely use, seem like they do need water more than I, so I guess tomorrow I'll phone the plumber and see if he's available to finish the job.
I have a mug of fresh water at my feet (segueing on from a quarter-mug of wine. I rarely drink wine even at meals but today's the third day in the last half-year when I've got home and decided that it would be appropriate to swallow some wine. I think it's more for the gesture than anything else) which Boots is expressing interest in. This isn't proof that her waterbowl needs refilling, as she expresses interest in most things I eat or drink, but it reminds me that it does in fact need refilling. And that our tapwater is currently chlorinated. Fortunately the kettle is full of cold boiled-the-heck-out-of water, and if you don't think chlorine is part of heck then you haven't heard the reaction of 350,000 ChurChurians to the news that our precious aquifer water is to be so tainted. (Gastro bug, meh. Chlorine, NO, THEY BE STEALING OUR WATERS!)
<holds head a bit>
Days like today are why I bought chocolate and pizza at the supermarket the other-- No, wait, yesterday.
