This morning it was back to the septic tank hunt again, and I was finding it hard to work up any enthusiasm, Ramiro arrived, and put in his two penneth, and then John arrived, he must have had his spinach this morning, because he stripped of his jacket, and started attacking the ground, despite, being in his decent clothes, and not work gear.
After one false start, we found the Grease Trap, not the tank I found yesterday, but another, again, just covered with a metal sheet, and nothing like the spec in the paperwork, I think Don Hernan was either related to the Inspector, or gave him a bung, it had obviously not been opened since it was built, and the top is solid with grease and grunge.
Having given John a description of what I had found yesterday, he decided to open it up again, so we started digging, once we lifted the metal plate higher, it turned out that they were not terrcotta pipes with carbon in between, but a deep ridged ceramic roofing sheet, and below that the septic tank, so again nothing like the spec in the documentation, we could see water moving, and smell the gases. I decided that the condition this was in, there was no way I could undertake the job, I think at the very least it will involve fabricating concrete lids, so I have bitten the bullet, and asked John to help us out one last time.
John stated we would be better waiting for the Engineer to come and do the inspection, John will come, and find out what they want, rather than completing the job and then finding it all has to be changed. We have dug out the entire area, which fortunately only just goes under the BBQ, it is now covered with the metal sheets, and the earth and rubble is lying on what remains of the lawn, which now looks like a bomb crater!
I then went off for a while to do John a favour, and on my return they were tiling the Kiosk roof, which although finished, it looks excellent, I am now wondering if we have done the right thing, maybe we should have used fibre glass sheets of imitation tiles, because whilst Ramiro was on the roof, it started swaying under the weight of the tiles, then the replacement purlin we had inserted to reinforce the one broken by the tree, started to bow. It was then a rush against time, I had some seasoned timbers that had been lying around the garden, I took one, cut it to size, planed it, and inserted it as another post supporting the center of the purlin, for now everything is fine, and far more sturdy.
Then we were all called for lunch, Marcela had taken pity on Ramiro, and because John had helped us out this morning he was invited to, and a lovely lunch it was!
Shortly afterwards, John and Ramiro left for the day. Marcela and I then went to see the Marijuana Kid, and moved our trailer back onto the parking area, which with the alterations made outside, was a doddle. At this point I noticed one of the bolts holding the front leg, had I thought, come loose, but it was more than that, it had stripped the thread, I think this stemmed back to when I first had it, and had the wheel bolted under the leg, it used to catch on every hump we crossed, which was why I removed it. Unfortunately I haven\’t got a suitable replacement bolt, so will have to get one.
Meanwhile, Marcela was busy cleaning the river water taps, alongside the swimming pool, the access was full of weeds, and rubbish, it is now all clean, and easily accessible.
Then it was dusk, and that means the end of another day!
Just by way of a post script, Marcela asked me why I was finishing the Blog, I explained, but she said it would mean having to find something else to read in the evening, I was surprised, I thought she would have been happy for me to wind it up, so I will keep it going, but the entries will be as and when, and not every day, sometimes not even every week!
An Englishman in Colombia 