Is the end in sight?

Is there water at the end of the pipeline at last?!

It sounds as though we might have some kind of water supply restored by Thursday, though we are told that it will be only a "dirty water" supply and nothing we can drink or cook with. But oh, if only we could have the luxury of a flushing loo again!! It is likely to be a couple of weeks at least before our tap water will be of drinking quality, so we will continue with our trips to see those nice Army Cadets who are handing out the bottled stuff with such patience.

Saturday night

Fed up with "managing" to do the washing up with minimal water, we decided we'd go out for supper tonight with both our Mums. As we sat with our Gs and Ts in the lobby of a local hotel where the water has not been affected, we spotted several families coming in with carrier bags, being given keys by reception. We learned that a couple of local firms - Waitrose and the Stroud and Swindon Building Society - had rented rooms for their staff and their families to use whilst we have no running water.

Considerate employers, we thought.

It was almost 10pm when the call came through...

...that the bottled water had reached our village!

I quickly ran up the bridle path which runs along the edge of our garden to find two policemen and several young Army chaps standing with a huge stack of bottled water, there in the dark. One pack of six bottles per household - no arguments, no pushing and shoving, nothing but good tempered, civilised behaviour, together with a fair bit of consideration for our neighbours too elderly or inform to carry it home for themselves.

After three days, it was good to know we hadn't been forgotten.

Also, in answer to my recycling concerns, we were told to hang onto our empty bottles for the time being until a solution is found to recycle them. I'm pleased about that.

We have developed quite a good system for coping without water from the tap. We drink the bottled stuff. We use the water brought from a neighbouring village to wash ourselves and the pots - some of it heated in a small urn we usually use for parties. We use the water from our garden water butts to flush the loos - replenished by torrential rain once again yesterday. We haven't quite been brave enough to do as one friend did yesterday - to don swimming costume and take soap and shampoo into the garden to shower in the torrential rain! (Bob, we want one of those photos!)

Bearing gifts

The three young men working on our bathroom arrived bearing gifts from far flung parts (Swindon) this morning. How thoughtful of them!

Two weeks ago, they began work to refurbish our en suite bathroom and have very nearly finished. I wonder when we will be able to try it out?

We are managing quite well, considering, and have got ourselves a good system for not wasting a drop. Just off to m-i-l's for showers and hairwash and we will be just fine.

24 hours later

Twenty four hours after our water supply dried up I thought that I should perhaps go in search of an alternative source. Unlike the city centres, water bowsers and street-corner tanks have not been forthcoming in this area and there was no issue of free bottled water announced so I headed for our local Waitrose. I guess they anticipated the needs of their customers.

A timely two-for-the-price-of-one offer on wipes means that we won't be quite as smelly during these times when we can't shower and our household surfaces are not going to become sources of disease and infection, thank goodness.

I managed to buy enough water to keep us and our immediate neighbours - all elderly - going for a couple of days and now we have these large containers, we can visit friends and relatives living in nearby villages to refill them as necessary. Not so much "cupboard love" as "tap love"! Confused messsages report that we could be water-less for anything from two days to two weeks.
A couple of dilemmas remain: what will happen to the millions of plastic bottles which are being issued - I'm hoping someone will begin a collection point to recycle them! And once our water-butt water is used up, how can I possibly use spring water to flush the loo?!

Whilst I write this blog entry, I have our local radio station playing, Can't quite believe the music right now - "Message in a Bottle" by Police! At least someone hasn't lost their sense of humour...