Heatwaves and holes in the ground

 

It's been too hot and sticky to think, let alone do any work, or very much crochet! Thankfully it has rained today, which makes it a little cooler, though I gather it has been torrential further east.

Not long ago, a hole appeared in the pavement outside our front wall. We knew our drainpipe to the main sewer was right underneath it, and there have been a few occasions when the drain has backed up, but that had been OK for a couple of months - and then suddenly the sinkhole.  

We didn't do anything immediately because of several recent blips with Mr Bufo's health, but on a recent Tuesday I spent what seemed like forever on a 'webchat' to Southern Water, including needing to send them a photo of the hole, which at least meant they gave us a 'job number' and said they would send someone within 72 hours. By 3pm that afternoon, someone had actually arrived, and did a bit of investigation down our manhole in the front garden. He put in a report and said someone would come the next day. 

So on Wednesday morning someone came and spent a while digging and not seeing anything, so he said someone would come with a camera the next day, as he couldn't see much wrong, and left a hole which he put barriers round. 

So on Thursday 2 blokes turned up and did a bit more digging. They eventually found the problem just under the front wall, where their pipe had slipped below our outlet - so our front garden had been getting a lot of extra fertilisation - but thankfully they 'owned' it rather than saying it was our problem, and replaced the faulty pipe, then someone came and started filling it all up, so the barriered area was smaller, and finally on the Friday another gang came along and tarmac-ed over the top. 

All very Flanders and Swann. 

I have nearly finished the second of two blankets for the granddaughters. This is the first, but the second has a slightly different arrangement of motifs, and a completely different border. If it cools off a bit I will get the second one finished soon, and you might even get a new post to celebrate the fact!

We Spring Forward

 

Spring seems to be here, and April is just around he corner We shall soon be making our regular spring visit to Somerset and Cleeve Abbey, and in the meantime the blackthorn on the corner of the road on the way to the paper shop is in full bloom again.

Last night the clocks went forward into Summer Time, so we look forward to brighter evenings and hope for a pleasant summer that isn't too hot - or too wet!

As the Days Lengthen

We are nearly at the end of January, and 1st February is the date that Miss Read tells us is the first time of the year that you can go for a walk after tea. Tea in this instance is 'four o'clock afternoon tea', not tea meaning dinner or supper. So as we are now out of the darkest 10 weeks of the winter, it is time to supersede the Shortest Day post and look forward to spring.

My snowdrops are not quite out yet, so here's a photo from February a few years ago - I'm sure they will be flowering before this post gets replaced!