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Another Step Closer...
Apr. 25th, 2009 08:24 pm...to the Good Life.
Tim asked what job I would like him to do today. "The pump!" I said excitedly.
Our back garden is very small, and about a third of it is given over to a block paved patio area. When we had it paved, and the old crumbly concrete removed, we got a friend's son and his friend to do it as they were desperate for work. Halfway through the job of removing the old concrete, I got a knock on my door, and one of the lads was standing there, wringing his woolly hat in his hands and looking rather distressed.
"You'd better come, Mrs Walker, " he said. "We've found sumfink under der patio!".
Now, being Of A Certain Age, the phrase "sumfink under der patio" brings back memories of "Brookside" and Trevor Jordache's body. You can safely assume that I was very worried when I went to see what it was. Thankfully it was NOT a body, but was, instead, a deep, brick-lined well which had been badly covered up with a little bit of chicken wire and 2cm of crumbling concrete. I was a little distressed by this, but very happy that I had a well. Notbeing one to ignore a point of historical interest on my property, I got the lads to build a well top, and concrete in some mesh to stop small children from falling in. Visiting children tend to drop pennies and pebbles in, and both Pippa and Ellie have been convinced that water nymphs live there. It's kind of cool. A few years of observation lead us to believe that it is fed by an underground spring as it *never* goes dry - even in prolonged droughts. The only problem is that the water level is about 5 ft below ground level and there's a mesh over the top, so I can't really use it.
A couple of years ago, however, we happened to visit a garden centre which was selling *proper* hand-primed water pumps. They weren't cheap, but we figured that you wouldn't have to use that much water to make the money back via not using the metered source. We bought one. And then promptly forgot where we put it, and ran out of time in which to install it. It was one of those jobs that always seemed best suited to being done another day.
But today was the day! Tim has spent all day making a cover for the well (I've been increasingly worried about the ASBO chicks falling in through the mesh) and mounting the pump on it. It turns out to be a little idiosyncratic - it needs priming with water before creating enough suction to pull more water - but it does the job and means that I can now pump fresh well water for watering my garden, washing my car and washing down my patio.
I am very happy. If it all goes to heck in a handbasket, and water ever gets rationed or cut off, I shall be happily pumping from my well! Yay!
Tim asked what job I would like him to do today. "The pump!" I said excitedly.
Our back garden is very small, and about a third of it is given over to a block paved patio area. When we had it paved, and the old crumbly concrete removed, we got a friend's son and his friend to do it as they were desperate for work. Halfway through the job of removing the old concrete, I got a knock on my door, and one of the lads was standing there, wringing his woolly hat in his hands and looking rather distressed.
"You'd better come, Mrs Walker, " he said. "We've found sumfink under der patio!".
Now, being Of A Certain Age, the phrase "sumfink under der patio" brings back memories of "Brookside" and Trevor Jordache's body. You can safely assume that I was very worried when I went to see what it was. Thankfully it was NOT a body, but was, instead, a deep, brick-lined well which had been badly covered up with a little bit of chicken wire and 2cm of crumbling concrete. I was a little distressed by this, but very happy that I had a well. Notbeing one to ignore a point of historical interest on my property, I got the lads to build a well top, and concrete in some mesh to stop small children from falling in. Visiting children tend to drop pennies and pebbles in, and both Pippa and Ellie have been convinced that water nymphs live there. It's kind of cool. A few years of observation lead us to believe that it is fed by an underground spring as it *never* goes dry - even in prolonged droughts. The only problem is that the water level is about 5 ft below ground level and there's a mesh over the top, so I can't really use it.
A couple of years ago, however, we happened to visit a garden centre which was selling *proper* hand-primed water pumps. They weren't cheap, but we figured that you wouldn't have to use that much water to make the money back via not using the metered source. We bought one. And then promptly forgot where we put it, and ran out of time in which to install it. It was one of those jobs that always seemed best suited to being done another day.
But today was the day! Tim has spent all day making a cover for the well (I've been increasingly worried about the ASBO chicks falling in through the mesh) and mounting the pump on it. It turns out to be a little idiosyncratic - it needs priming with water before creating enough suction to pull more water - but it does the job and means that I can now pump fresh well water for watering my garden, washing my car and washing down my patio.
I am very happy. If it all goes to heck in a handbasket, and water ever gets rationed or cut off, I shall be happily pumping from my well! Yay!
