27th October 2024
WordPress must be having a senior moment or maybe it’s me but it’s decided that my earrings look better large, I can’t seem to shrink the photo today so you have me in large font … eeek.
We have had a lot of rain, it is the rainy season after all. It comes out of nowhere and then pelts out of the sky for a short period. It thunders on the galvanised section of the roof ….. making a real racket. The first few nights it woke us with a start. We now find it soothing. I’ve always loved rain. My mother used to tell the story of coming to check on me in a thunderstorm when I was a toddler in Belize. She opened the bedroom door to find me standing up in my crib laughing and clapping at the thunder and lightning.
From one minute to another it changes. The tropics…..
Nevertheless water is a scarce resource. Bajan water is delicious straight from the tap, coral filtered. We always knew that the water bills the previous owner had been paying were extortionate and budgeted for it. However we hoped with effective conservation we could improve the usage and efficiency. We have already fixed the leaking hot water tank, and put bottles in the bogs to reduce the vast amount that is in each flush. After all it was obvious in so many ways she had lost interest and just paid the bills.
As you now know the saga of the water meter or lack of it, the water bills have been estimated for the last year. Richard has applied his lawyerly brain, his natural tenacity, his Cardi tightness and a large bit of bloody mindedness to the BWA (Barbados Water Authority) helpful help desk and we now have a water meter. Installed without our knowledge. On our way out on Saturday morning we drove past the concrete excavation he made 2 weeks ago when he was looking for the absent meter. There shining in the sun, smiling at us with its new brass piping was our new meter. Out we hop …. Hurrah … but be careful what you wish for … we check out the reading. Panic ensues…… whaaaaaaat? Already we seemed to have used 749 cubic meters. We must have a massive leak ….. preoccupied about this all day we come back to it at the end of the day, to clock a decimal point not visible in the bright sunshine.
Mr B then obsesses about the meter and we now have a short spreadsheet of several readings over 24hrs and an average annual usage calculation which is a fraction, like a 1/10th, of her estimates. Phew. We shall see. Now to battle with the BWA about the previous 4 weeks we have been here. I’m feeling very positive about winning that with who I have in our corner ❤️
Our downpour last week revealed a couple of small leaks from the dining room and also a drainpipe coming down from the roof ending 18” above the back patio to where it pours directly into the coral stone wall and consequently there is damp. It just needs diverting …. One more little job …. I started to collect that water to clean more screens but it is FILTHY… ho hum …. nice thought but actually all sorts of critters crawl about on the roof not least the monkeys so the effluent from the roof is bound to be yuk.
We are putting water out for the bees as instructed by the bee man. They seem to be settling down. Hummmmmmm. Fingers crossed.
Now to settle by the large body of water we call a pool, as the sun sets with an ice cold bottle of fermented water. It is our day of rest after all.
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