OMG, the drain man’s here….

We have a drain in the street outside our house and shortly after we moved in it got blocked up^*1. I called the Council because it’s their responsibility and they said they would send someone out. I felt that I had fulfilled my civic duty and promptly forgot about it.

Now, we live on a hill and so this drain isn’t really vital – when it rains heavily the water just runs down the hill to the next drain, but all the same, it sometimes means negotiating a real fast flowing river when trying to get to the car. With legs as short and incontrollable as mine, many’s the time I cursed as I misjudged the distance to the far side of something that looked like the white water rapids and plonked my foot right down in the middle of it!

Well, winter turns to spring, spring to summer and summer to autumn and autumn back to winter. The drain stays blocked and I keep getting wet feet. I keep forgetting to do my civic duty until one of those amazing summer storms happens and the heavens open. I get soaked – starting at the ankles and yes, you’ve guessed it – phone the council and they said they would send someone out. This time they tell me there’s no record of my earlier call and they give me a job reference number and I wait. 12 long months pass and by now, the drain is no longer blocked – now it is positively overflowing with leaves and other junk. The only upside is that if you dropped your keys over it they wouldn’t even get through the slots (I can always find a silver lining in anything!). I (wait for it) phone the council and they said they would send someone out. They give me another reference number and a few days later a man turns up and paints a yellow mark on the pavement next to where the drain is. 12 more long months pass and I phone the council again – I quote my earlier references and point out to them that is the blocked drain’s birthday (or at least the anniversary of my call). They (unbelievably) said they would send someone out and at that point I decide to give up all hope ….

A week ago as I (yet again) splashed my foot down into the middle of the river, decided that in August, since the blockage would be 5 years old, I would make it a birthday card and a cake and call the local paper instead of the council. I told no-one of my plans but today (as if by magic) the council men have turned up. So far they have been here 3 hours and have just started working with a pneumatic drill…..now whatever happened to a stitch in time?

I’ll let you know if they give up and go away – I almost hope they do tho’ – I like birthday cake…..

^*1 To put this in some context, you have to realise we have lived here for nearly 6 years.