Disaster struck our house the morning before yesterday when sewage bubbled up out of the floor outlet in the downstairs bathroom. POOH what a revolting sight and even worse smell. on ringing our trusty plumber, he informed us that he was very busy but would try to be there in the late afternoon. In the meantime we couldn't use the bathrooms or any drains. By four o'clock I was busting for the toilet and I needed a shower. The plumber had called and said he couldn't make it until the next morning. I called a friendly neighbour (how embarrassing). Kathy was kind enough to let me use her bathroom and then invited us for dinner to save us using the drains. I had been washing up in a bowl and throwing the water over the balcony into the garden. Once I forgot the cutlery in the bottom of the bowl and threw knives and forks into the garden and then had to hunt for them amongst prickly bromeliads. What a day!
Next morning the plumber arrives late. (You don't want to know how we managed without toilet facilities.) After pulling out the toilet and putting a camera down the drain for thirty metres the plumber informed us that the problem wasn't in our drainage pipe but in the council's main sewerage pipe. So we had to call the council. The plumber, Matt, warned us they would insist that it wasn't in their pipes and he told us to tell them to ring him if that happened. Sure enough that is what happened. After the council workmen called Matt, they proceeded to dig up my garden to prove to us that it wasn't the council mains blocked.
So a digger on caterpillar treads rolls into the garden and starts digging to find the manhole which had been totally covered by a mat of palm roots. However, when they were able to put a camera down the hole and into the main sewerage pipe they found that there were roots in the main pipe at the junction of our pipe, which was about 40 metres across the front of our yard.
They informed us that they would have to dig up that part of the garden to find the inspection point at the junction of the pipes. This took them the rest of the day, while we still could not use the bathroom.
Soon trucks and more men arrived and the digger tramples over another part of our garden and proceeded to dig a huge hole looking for the connection. (They had a plan and a vague idea). Those lovely trees will have to go...boo hoo.
This is what got trampled by the digger.
Bill happily watches on as he was so pleased that it was the council pipe and not ours otherwise we would have had to pay for it to be fixed.
Many plants get dug up too but the workmen said they would replace them.....I hope so.
Even though it was sad to watch I wanted them to hurry up and get it found and fixed so I could uncross my legs and use the bathroom.
Hours later and a hole big enough to lose a man, they finally found the observation cap for the connection. They inserted the 'worm' that revolves and munches up the roots and cleared the pipe enough for us to be able to use the bathroom and drains. Yoo hoo relief at last! It was now late afternoon and time for the workers to go home. They said they would be back tomorrow to put in new pipes. The mind boggles at the thought of not being able to use the bathroom again.
However, when we woke today it is raining, which we desperately need but not now!
We woke to rain and a hole with a ladder in it.
A few workers arrived and covered the hole and disappeared. What next?
Luckily much of the garden survives.
Newsflash: Our family from Los Angeles is returning home on Saturday. Hope the sewer is fixed by then. They are staying with us for a while before heading to Melbourne.
It was Paul's 79th birthday. We were all so happy for him to have seen this birthday arrive. Paul was diagnosed with mesothelioma (malignant cancer caused by exposure to asbestos) in 2010. There is no cure and the average survival rate is twelve months. As you can see, Paul has survived for five years and he is the longest surviving patient in Queensland. He is such a stoic fighter and will not give in to this dreadful illness. He has had surgery, many, many chemo treatments and radiotherapy as well as a new trial treatment. He has been in hospital many times and he suffers a lot of pain. It has been a long hard road for both him and his wife Helen.
