Some Normality

A Sink full of hot soapy water...Luxury! How our priorities have changed in the last few days.This morning I was able to fill my sink with hot water from the taps, we have water to wash and for domestic use only, it will be another few days before it is cleared for drinking.Water was returned to the north side of the city on a phased basis over the last couple of days, ours returned at 9.00pm last night.The weather is dry and very cold and a lot of the roads were still wet when we had a hard frost last night so there is a lot of black ice about,the radio has been giving reports of car pile ups all morning.
Some of our country towns like Bandon,Skibereen and Clonakilty are still mopping up the water damage to their homes and businesses.The west of Ireland still has thousands of acres under water and winter crops have been destroyed with another flood warning as high tides throughout the Shannon region are imminent today.
Water tankers were placed around the north side and smaller tanks of water in housing estates for domestic use. These were manned from early morning until late evening by members of the defence forces who are the unsung heroes for standing out in cold wet windy conditions to keep us supplied. People came home from work in the late evening in the dark and then had to head out to queue for water.
I invested in a water butt about two years ago to have water to hand for watering the back garden, since I put it up we have had two of the wettest summers in history so it was never used for its intended purpose. I was able to use water from this for the toilet all week which was great.
We don't pay for water in this country and I suppose we do (or have) taken it for granted up to now.I now know it takes 2 litres of water to fill 1 kettle and 15 litres to fill the cistern for 1 flush!Thats not even counting showers and washing machines etc.
Something that may interest any American readers,click on photo to enlarge to read print.This house is on the outskirts of the city and every Christmas it is decorated with flowers and traditional Christmas decorations, it is then opened for Charity for a few days.Singers and mulled wine and mince pies add to the atmosphere. It is the birth place of a Major Clebourne who was in the Confederate Army in the US. My sister has some beautiful photos of the interior of the house over on her blog, tales from a garden.
Now that I am back to normal and water collection is not my priority I can get back to catching up on everyones blogs to see what you have been up this last week.

Comments

Ann said…
Thank goodness things are getting back to normal for you Peggy, as you say, it really brings it home to you when things like water supply are disrupted. We put water butts in after the really hot summers several years ago, of course it's never been as hot and dry as then - typical!!!
Jo said…
Peggy; I'm pleased you're back to normal again. Our town water supply was disrupted on Saturday afternoon (only for about four hours) and I felt anxious then! We had two young children and a baby to bath so used the children's pool water (eewgh!) by boiling it in pots on the stove. As we had bathed them and were wondering if we should bath in their tepid glurpy water (double eewgh!) the water came on again, albeit brown and spitting for ages with air-locks. Thanks for the post!
Peggy we've been hearing this in the news here in Africa & I was wondering how you were getting on. Glad that you have water back now, it is such a precious thing & one thing I cannot live without ! Here in Africa we often place a building brick into the cistern of our toilets, as this helps to take up around 1 litre of water space & therefore saves 1 litre of water with every flush ! Sorry I haven't been around much, but hope to catch up soon ......
Anonymous said…
Hi Peggy,
I am so sorry to hear about all the water problems over your way!
I am glad things are starting to turn around and hopefully back to normal soon.

That is interesting about Major Clebourn. I will have to check out your sister's blog.
Have a great day.
Pam

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