In the gathering dusk - or the joys of living in the country

This should be an embarassing post but it is not, for I learnt of the 'vascular' system of our house, ie. how the water gets around.  It started a few weeks back, strange noises as the water went down from the bath, the loos started behaving strangely and then all of a sudden water would not go down.  So we called the HomeServe plumber in, and he pointed to the fault immediately yesterday.  The pump in our front lawn was not working, probably had not been working for years, and the tank had become full.  Not a subject easily discussed but our house because the lie of the land lies below the main sewage needed a pump to raise waste to the main pump.

So we got in touch with the people who put the pump in, he lives in a little village down the road, and Malcolm said, wait for it, "no problem I will fix it".  And so at 6 last night, after their tea, he and his son came down with this......

And then the fun began;) the tank was cleared but the pipes still needed clearing, the kitchen one especially, so he dyna-rodded till it came clear, unfortunately he made the downstairs loo overflow, but I dealt with that and now our water system is flushing through beautifully, we still need a new pump, and the monster will once again decorate our drive, but wasn't that a lovely gesture for him to come out.  he also owns a farm apart from the small business he runs in the village of Brawby.

It was a busy day yesterday, what with the plumber, Laurie and son and Natalie the window cleaner, which all upset Lucy of course.  The day before had also been busy.  We had the pre AGM meeting, things to be discussed, etc our new person into the village is very enthusiastic, but I think the newcomers must take care with the established occupants of the village.

Also went to the gardening club which is really beginning to fill up with people, we had a talk on Beningfield Hall.  I never knew that evergreens came so late into the country, 19th century, from America.  We only had three, the yew, scots pine and not sure, but did he say holly?

When I was a child we had a 'monkey puzzle' tree in our 'late' Victorian garden, apparently its shape puzzled monkeys;)

I end this blog with a grateful thank-you to farmers who come out so cheerfully in the evening to do a wretched job and we may pay a lot but it was worth it....