• Monday morning

    by  • 23 June, 2008 • General • 3 Comments

    That’s the answer to my last question “How long does a Saturday afternoon in Greece last?”. Answer: until Monday morning.

    We did get a visit by a technician from the water works on Sunday though. But it wasn’t clear to me what he came to do. He ascertained that we had indeed no water, gave the umpteenth version of how the water network was constructed as an explanation why we had no water. We’ve heard many different versions of the same story before, from different servicemen of the same company that came to examine the situation. My summary of all these explanations is this: we are either at the beginning or at the end of one of 3 possibly different circuits. That’s why we have a water problem when our neighbors don’t. Figures, huh?

    Τέλος πάντων, we had another barbecue last night, the second in a row, and got to bed around 2 o’clock. It was a good thing that I was woken up this morning by a huge cockroach crawling over my face a 6:30. After skillfully exterminating the attacker I was fully awake and checked the water. YES! Water had arrived! Glory Hallelujah! I could now devote myself to what I fear will become a frequent routine: get up at dawn — when there is still some water in the pipes before everybody else starts filling up their reservoir, leaving me with only a few measly drops — and start the electric water pump to fill the 1000 liter tank on the rooftop. The pump has a capacity of 50 liters per minute, but because of the low pressure and the clogged pipes it takes about 2 hours to fill up the reservoir. All that time I have to sit next to the pump, because there is no safety system for a) when the reservoir is full, and b) when the water supply stops. If I don’t react to either of these conditions — which I detect by a change in the sound of the running motor — within a reasonably short time, I risk burning the pump. Oh, did I tell you that the tank is on a 7 meter high flat rooftop with no access whatsoever, except if I can borrow a 8 meter high ladder somewhere? If anybody has any ideas of how to improve this situation through pressure valves or something like it, without running extra electric cables because that is not possible, I’d like to hear from you.

    I’m off for my siesta now.

    3 Responses to Monday morning

    1. Pingback: Pump my water | Cretan Chronicles

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