Latest moan from you and me - 2016

Many years ago we had a serious leak somewhere in our front garden. I had found that when I dug the ground (wanted to plant some shrubs) the hole filled with water at a depth of only 9". So I tried digging in different parts of the garden, at 50ft intervals, and got the same result.

It was in the days before water meters and when the water authority was responsible for leaks between the house and the road. After the initial inspector came out they sent out two men with their water divining machines. They spent two days trying to divine where the leak was, with no success (not surprising as the whole garden was waterlogged ). They were going to continue working at it and the inspector came out to see how they were going.

I had a talk with the inspector and suggested that it would work out cheaper for them to run a completely new pipe as it would save time and they would probably have to do it anyway. He agreed and that's what was decided. Then the fun and games started. As it was quite a distance, and they would have to go through the driveway, reinstate it and then reinstate the lawns etc. they said it would be much easier to 'mole' it (a burrowing machine that would also be able to take the modern plastic piping through the tunnel it would bore).

To make sure that the mole was going correctly (can be deflected by tree roots or rocks) they had to dig holes every 10ft to check that it was going in the right direction and to guide it properly. A lot easier said than done! The holes, of course, were full of water and they couldn't see whether the mole was reaching the hole so 'the boy' had to be baling out the hole when they calculated that the mole had reached it.

Eventually they ran the new pipe, reinstated the holes in the lawns, and everything was OK. A ten day job!

The interesting thing was that after the first day of them not being able to find the leak Mrs Shiney sent off a letter to someone she knew who was a 'distance diviner' (a load of old rubbish as far as I was concerned ). All he wanted was a map of the house and garden (just copied them from the original planning applications) and he sent them back by return of post (total time, three days) with the leak marked on the map.

Six months later, when the water levels had dropped low enough, I dug where he said the leak was and found the old metal pipe with a break in it!!!!!!

 

Ah but, aren't the utilities so much better ran now that they are privatised.....

 

Which make of baked beans?

 

The cheaper watered down ones,

 

What has happened @"M"?

You need a hug?

 

It just shows what a good Curry from the previous night will do for you, "M"

 

I always fall for the wide eyed innocent look from the ladies!

 

Further Update:-

Inspector turned up yesterday in his van along with another man in his own van

I asked him why they dug their hole where they did and not where he had marked for them to dig. He said "your guess is as good as mine!"

He has now put in another job order and added instructions that they do not stop digging until they find the leak . Of course, they still need to get another permit from the council . I wonder if the council put a limit on how many they can have.