![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Not for those of a sensitive disposition
Aug. 25th, 2010 03:00 pmEverything was going okay until Tuesday night, but then, if I had had a fan in the garden, the shit would have it it.
That's because it (shit) started coming up through the drains.
This necessitated panicked calls to several people and, after much pressing (performed, I should point out, by the tenant - God bless 'im) someone contracted by Thames Water came round. Tristan was out but Chloe was in, and she tapped on my door to say that she didn't have a clue what he was on about.
Turns out he was loking for inspection chambers, which are under manhole covers, about which I knew nothing.
The first part of the garden has been covered with shingle for about five years, but Mr Man from contractors of Thames Water -- a rather eccentric chap, to be honest -- but perhaps a life dealing with blocked drains either requires eccentricity or causes it -- had a metal detector. With that he found not one but two manhole covers, both of which, when opened, revealed about eight feet of shitty gunk.
Yes, I had the ultimate nightmare -- a blocked sewer pipe.
Gradually things got worse. After a mere five or ten seconds of hope when some work with an unblocking rod caused bubbles to appear and the level to fall a fraction, I quickly sank back into the slough of despair as he got a second rod, and a third, and a fourth, fixing them end to end, and shoving away. No joy.
This would appear to indicate that the blockage is really somewhere deep under next door, the rather aptly numbered number 2. However, a look in the inspection chamber under the manhole cover at the front of number 2 showed it to be clear.
Worse, access to the garden of number 2 is difficult because no-one in that flat appears to be immediately available (and the owners live in Switzerland). That will make accessing the inspection chamber there rather difficult. It's also "private" (i.e., not Thames Water's responsibility) and "low priority" (because water isn't actually coming up into the house)
Anyhoo, I've got to arrange a team to come down with a high-pressure hose, and it will be "expensive" -- not a word that inspires me with confidence. These people are coming tomorrow morning. The only problem is that, if it rains hard again, the sewerage will reappear in the back garden. And, of course, the weather forecast tonight is for rain.
I've written a cheque for £200 for the tenants downstairs because, to be frank, I feel really bad for them, and it's a vague attempt to feel less guilty for something which I know isn't my fault, but which I feel bad about not being able to fix. After all, it is my property.
That feeling of helplessness really isn't much fun.
With property, the problems run in order of frequency as water, gas, and subsidence. Some bastard property owners never suffer any of them (usually the ones who bought on a tracker mortgage or bought in 1972 jsut before inflation wiped out their debt) and sit there in sickening smugness opioning on how clever they were and that "you can't go wrong" with property.
Well, of course, you can, and a series of misdecisions by me in the past three years have probably cost me something in the region of £40,000. But, so it goes.
The biggest worry is if the high-pressure hose doesn't solve the problem. Then I will be doomed to a series of phone calls to various "experts" to find out how to solve what might be a very tricky problem. It will be solved eventually -- most things can be solved if you continue to throw money at them.
Oh, did someone mention buildings insurance? Well, that's where it gets even worse. I changed building insurers last week, so the new policy came into effect on August 19. Throwing in a claim for an event on August 23, which the insurer could quite validly claim was a pre-existing condition, would (a) possibly be ruled an invalid claim and (b) get me red-flagged for the next 20 years.
Not good.
In better news, I'm playing some of the best poker of my life. That doesn't mean I'm winning a fortune, but it does mean that I'm very happy with the quality of my play. I've toned down my aggression somewhat, becoming more willing to cold-call raises, limp behind, and even open limp. This has paid dividends against the increasing proportion of tagfish and tag non-fish.
I'm nearly level now in open play for the month, and am about $260 up when rakeback is thrown in. That's not bad after a $1600 deficit on August 8th.
______________________
That's because it (shit) started coming up through the drains.
This necessitated panicked calls to several people and, after much pressing (performed, I should point out, by the tenant - God bless 'im) someone contracted by Thames Water came round. Tristan was out but Chloe was in, and she tapped on my door to say that she didn't have a clue what he was on about.
Turns out he was loking for inspection chambers, which are under manhole covers, about which I knew nothing.
The first part of the garden has been covered with shingle for about five years, but Mr Man from contractors of Thames Water -- a rather eccentric chap, to be honest -- but perhaps a life dealing with blocked drains either requires eccentricity or causes it -- had a metal detector. With that he found not one but two manhole covers, both of which, when opened, revealed about eight feet of shitty gunk.
Yes, I had the ultimate nightmare -- a blocked sewer pipe.
Gradually things got worse. After a mere five or ten seconds of hope when some work with an unblocking rod caused bubbles to appear and the level to fall a fraction, I quickly sank back into the slough of despair as he got a second rod, and a third, and a fourth, fixing them end to end, and shoving away. No joy.
This would appear to indicate that the blockage is really somewhere deep under next door, the rather aptly numbered number 2. However, a look in the inspection chamber under the manhole cover at the front of number 2 showed it to be clear.
Worse, access to the garden of number 2 is difficult because no-one in that flat appears to be immediately available (and the owners live in Switzerland). That will make accessing the inspection chamber there rather difficult. It's also "private" (i.e., not Thames Water's responsibility) and "low priority" (because water isn't actually coming up into the house)
Anyhoo, I've got to arrange a team to come down with a high-pressure hose, and it will be "expensive" -- not a word that inspires me with confidence. These people are coming tomorrow morning. The only problem is that, if it rains hard again, the sewerage will reappear in the back garden. And, of course, the weather forecast tonight is for rain.
I've written a cheque for £200 for the tenants downstairs because, to be frank, I feel really bad for them, and it's a vague attempt to feel less guilty for something which I know isn't my fault, but which I feel bad about not being able to fix. After all, it is my property.
That feeling of helplessness really isn't much fun.
With property, the problems run in order of frequency as water, gas, and subsidence. Some bastard property owners never suffer any of them (usually the ones who bought on a tracker mortgage or bought in 1972 jsut before inflation wiped out their debt) and sit there in sickening smugness opioning on how clever they were and that "you can't go wrong" with property.
Well, of course, you can, and a series of misdecisions by me in the past three years have probably cost me something in the region of £40,000. But, so it goes.
The biggest worry is if the high-pressure hose doesn't solve the problem. Then I will be doomed to a series of phone calls to various "experts" to find out how to solve what might be a very tricky problem. It will be solved eventually -- most things can be solved if you continue to throw money at them.
Oh, did someone mention buildings insurance? Well, that's where it gets even worse. I changed building insurers last week, so the new policy came into effect on August 19. Throwing in a claim for an event on August 23, which the insurer could quite validly claim was a pre-existing condition, would (a) possibly be ruled an invalid claim and (b) get me red-flagged for the next 20 years.
Not good.
In better news, I'm playing some of the best poker of my life. That doesn't mean I'm winning a fortune, but it does mean that I'm very happy with the quality of my play. I've toned down my aggression somewhat, becoming more willing to cold-call raises, limp behind, and even open limp. This has paid dividends against the increasing proportion of tagfish and tag non-fish.
I'm nearly level now in open play for the month, and am about $260 up when rakeback is thrown in. That's not bad after a $1600 deficit on August 8th.
______________________
