The Simple Things In Life

[Lark]

Sometimes we get so wound up in the day to day contingencies that we fail to appreciate the simple things in life...like a sewer that works consistently.

You have to understand that our house is 200 years old, and they didn't have indoor plumbing and electricity in this area until the 1940's. Being good red-neck engineers when they upgraded to indoor plumbing they didn't bother with something as effete as a good septic system. Oh no, why waste the money on that. They simply ran clay sewer line from the house to an unused cistern and plopped a piece of wood over the hole. The classic cess pit!

Well over the years they did upgrade the system to include a drain field of sorts. But they never upgraded the pipes running from the house which made an almost right-angle to get from the bathroom to the cistern. So stoppages were common. And then there were the tree roots that were growing into the pipes (clay pipes you'll remember). Last summer I had to have the pipe snaked one last time and out came bits of roots and more frightening a lot of dirt. Apparently the pipe was slowly collapsing on itself.

So we decided to splurge and install an uptodate septic system with new pipe from the house, a REAL septic tank, and a brand new drain field. Yippeeee! All I want for Christmas is a septic tank! We were worried that we might have trouble with the perk test and then have them condemn the old system leaving us with no way to have any sort of plumbing nor sell the house. But wonder of wonders it was no problem.

So today the nice men are here at the house. The line is already laid and connected from the house to the tank. The tank is safely in the ground with no more right-angle turns to cause blockages. And they are digging the drain field even as I type. By the end of the day the entire project will be completed.

Like I said, one often doesn't appreciate the simple things in life. Like a septic line that isn't leaking into the dirt under the house. Like filling in a cess pit before someone falls into it. Like not having to worry about the line blocking up every time you hear a pipe gurgle. Like a toilet that might actually flush first time.

And who ever thought you could wax poetic about poo?

Like I said, all I wanted for Christmas was a septic tank, and Santa delivered! Go Santa!   

-Lark-

[Labrys]

I fully understand!  Today I got HEAT!

Yes, the parts are installed in our propane burning fireplace that is THE heat source.  I have been waiting since October when negotiations with the original stove maintainers went south.

So yes, the basics ARE the best.  Not that any of that stopped me asking for a book or two....

(But aren't books basic??)

[Still Kate]

Lark.... your post has cheered me up no end, (only now I keep singing "all I want for Christmas is a septic tank!" going round in my head....)   

At least its stopped me worrying about the pending court date (21st Jan) and the meeting for Ryan with the court "Child" officer on 21st Dec. I wish they would stop calling him a child. Whenever one of these official people calls they assume Ryan is about 5 and get a bit confused when I tell them he'll be 16 in August. Obviously it highly irregular for a father to do this to a lad of 15 and everybody is wondering why.... its all working in our favour and is simply a matter of course but it all a bit full-on and really I'm begining to feel a bit ill. I wake in the morning and my entire body aches where I've been tense as a spring while I sleep.
I cant wait till the 21st Jan when it will be all over for the legal stuff anyway.... his father will just turn tactic and do some pretty nesty things like he did 10 years ago but Ive spoken to the police to cover the fall-out.
Anyway, you've made me smile ..... Thank you!
Have a good day.
Love Kate. xx