Water Feature
Jan. 31st, 2006 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katiefoolerySo, I was sitting in my reading chair by the bedroom window just before, you'll be fascinated to know. It was rather pleasant: just lolling about in my chair, reading my book while the sun warmed my back. And as I read, the sound of water trickling pleasantly by could be heard outside the window.
This would be fine if we happened to live by a stream or a river. It would make sense if there was an aqueduct nearby or even if it had been raining heavily.
However, none of these instances happen to apply here. The reason for the sound of water tinkling by outside is a burst mains somewhere under our footpath that still isn't fixed, despite copious men digging about our yard and rather attractive plumbers turning the water off on me without warning.
Water is a precious commodity. Here in Melbourne, we have permanent water restrictions in order to conserve as much of the precious substance as possible. It's a dry country after all and water is rather handy for keeping people alive. The basic rules of water conservation (according to Yarra Valley Water) involve not watering gardens during the day and not filling spas or pools without a permit. Another of the rules also mentions paved areas as follows:
It's not that shallow, either. In some parts, it's up to an inch deep. When going to the supermarket or getting into the car, we have to hold up our pants so the cuffs don't get soaked and muddy. Oh yes, I didn't mention the mud, did I? That's a legacy of the attractive plumbers. They had an absolute ball, digging up their holes and shovelling mud onto the driveway with wild abandon. The motion of the water has ensured that the mud has now spread as far as it possibly can.
The following image is the cause of the lovely trickling sound outside the bedroom window.
The picture is a little deceptive - there's more water than you'd imagine there. Luckily, the next photo gives you an idea of the way the water is simply flowing down our driveway...
You only need to glance at the ripples in the water to see how quickly things are moving. This is the gutter in front of our garage at the end of the driveway... and it's almost full up. I just can't wait to find out what will happen when the water has nowhere else to go. It's already seeping into the garage where all our excess boxes of stuff are stored and where my Timothy escapes to practise his darts. I can tell you from recent experience that rotting carpet does not produce a lovely smell.
This is our front yard, with a bonus shadow of my elbow. Ironically, the real estate agent sent us a letter the other day, asking us to tidy up the front yard a bit. Maybe I should ask them for a boat in which to do it.
It's all very frustrating and I just can't believe that a company that's supposed to be conserving water is letting so much of it flow down our driveway (not to mention next door's as well). I'm thinking of sending these images to the council and the local newspaper, to see if we can't speed things up a little bit.
Luckily, Pickle still looks incredibly cute, so that makes things a little better.
* Obviously, it doesn't greet us from this angle (unless I'm trying to imply our bedroom is on the footpath) but you get the idea...
This would be fine if we happened to live by a stream or a river. It would make sense if there was an aqueduct nearby or even if it had been raining heavily.
However, none of these instances happen to apply here. The reason for the sound of water tinkling by outside is a burst mains somewhere under our footpath that still isn't fixed, despite copious men digging about our yard and rather attractive plumbers turning the water off on me without warning.
Water is a precious commodity. Here in Melbourne, we have permanent water restrictions in order to conserve as much of the precious substance as possible. It's a dry country after all and water is rather handy for keeping people alive. The basic rules of water conservation (according to Yarra Valley Water) involve not watering gardens during the day and not filling spas or pools without a permit. Another of the rules also mentions paved areas as follows:
- Paved areas must not be cleaned with water except in exceptional circumstances.
It's not that shallow, either. In some parts, it's up to an inch deep. When going to the supermarket or getting into the car, we have to hold up our pants so the cuffs don't get soaked and muddy. Oh yes, I didn't mention the mud, did I? That's a legacy of the attractive plumbers. They had an absolute ball, digging up their holes and shovelling mud onto the driveway with wild abandon. The motion of the water has ensured that the mud has now spread as far as it possibly can.
The following image is the cause of the lovely trickling sound outside the bedroom window.
The picture is a little deceptive - there's more water than you'd imagine there. Luckily, the next photo gives you an idea of the way the water is simply flowing down our driveway...
You only need to glance at the ripples in the water to see how quickly things are moving. This is the gutter in front of our garage at the end of the driveway... and it's almost full up. I just can't wait to find out what will happen when the water has nowhere else to go. It's already seeping into the garage where all our excess boxes of stuff are stored and where my Timothy escapes to practise his darts. I can tell you from recent experience that rotting carpet does not produce a lovely smell.
This is our front yard, with a bonus shadow of my elbow. Ironically, the real estate agent sent us a letter the other day, asking us to tidy up the front yard a bit. Maybe I should ask them for a boat in which to do it.
It's all very frustrating and I just can't believe that a company that's supposed to be conserving water is letting so much of it flow down our driveway (not to mention next door's as well). I'm thinking of sending these images to the council and the local newspaper, to see if we can't speed things up a little bit.
Luckily, Pickle still looks incredibly cute, so that makes things a little better.
* Obviously, it doesn't greet us from this angle (unless I'm trying to imply our bedroom is on the footpath) but you get the idea...
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no subject
on 2006-01-31 09:33 am (UTC)Send them to someone, raise the alarm, I say!
And Pickle is gorgeous!
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on 2006-01-31 09:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
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on 2006-01-31 09:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
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on 2006-01-31 10:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
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on 2006-01-31 10:34 am (UTC)I love Pickle!
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on 2006-01-31 11:59 am (UTC)The funniest thing is that we still have severe water restrictions on and water consumption is at 70 000 gigalitres below target :P
This is a good thing though!
Hopefully your floods will go away soon *hugs pickle*
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on 2006-01-31 01:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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on 2006-01-31 03:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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on 2006-01-31 04:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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on 2006-01-31 09:41 pm (UTC)it's such a bugger it's only a trickle.
And it's the government, what more do you want from them? But it might be an idea if you stick a sign up on your lawn "Water provided by burst watermain, don't blame me, blame them". Otherwise the water police might come... :P
(no subject)
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on 2006-02-01 01:01 am (UTC)Do it. So totally do it, as that will force the real estate agency to go 'hmmm' and possibly complain on your behalf. Perhaps. Hopefully.
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on 2006-02-01 06:11 am (UTC)Hurrah for two guys and a digging machine :D
(no subject)
Posted byno subject
on 2006-02-02 01:51 am (UTC)*shakes fist at real estate agents and council-type peoples*
GRRRR