Sorry Folks!

I did my shopping yesterday, and found a pair of shoes, that I think fit the bill, time will tell. I met up with Marcela for lunch, and then after stopping off in Copacabana to do the food shopping, I came home.

The idea was to continue working on the Montero, but after giving the area I cleaned the day before a coat of my newly bought polish, I was dripping, it was like a sauna, and that was out of the sun, so I packed up.

I went down to the house, and there was a smell of septic tank, I thought it was just down to the heat, and went upstairs, however when I came back down later in the afternoon, the smell was still strong. I soon found out the cause, because I went to the downstairs bathroom, and heaved, the drain water had backed up and filled the shower, albeit it had again drained away, leaving the shower floor tiles covered in residue. It had also come up in the two sinks in the drying area.

I had had the washing machine going, and that was probably the straw that broke the camels back, but it may have been a blessing in disguise. I opened up the top of the trap, to see if the water was backing up in the entry pipe, but it didn\’t appear to be, however the trap was full of globules of fat floating around, and there had been none of that before.

It is possible that the cause of the whole problem was a pipe blockage from fat. We don\’t put fat down the drain, we make a point of pouring it into a container and putting it in the bin, but you still have to wash the pans afterwards, and over time…

I ran the water and it was pouring into the trap, where as before it was little more than a trickle, I just hope that didn\’t cause a joint to spring. I will know later today whether the leak, has subsided enough to forget it, now the water is running freely again. I will have to get some chemicals to run through the pipe and clean it.

I cleaned out the shower, and bleached it, at least the downstairs is smelling fresh again.

No sleep last night, or very little, the two Fincas nearest to us, had groups of youngsters booked in, and the music ran all night, one had electronic noise on a loop, which usually indicates Druggies, Marcela received a call from the head of the Local Action Group at 10.30pm last night asking which of the Fincas was causing the problem, she was told both, and said she was getting the Police to attend, whether they did or not, I have no idea, but it didn\’t effect the noise level. I woke at 2am, and didn\’t get back to sleep again, so spent the night making evidencial recordings every hour, for our next official complaint.

At 5.45am I took the dogs for a walk, and investigated something that had been concerning me all week, as we walked by one finca, there was an ominous clicking noise, I had heard it every morning, I recognised the noise from my days in the UK, being from farming community.

There was an electric cable running from the wall of the house to a paint bucket up against the wire fence alongside the lane. They had electrified the fence, with what voltage I have no idea, but being alongside the public lane, I would think that is illegal, I will have to make some enquiries, I made sure the dogs didn\’t get too close.

I need to check on the septic trap, but after last night, I can\’t see me doing much today, if they stop the music long enough, I might try to get an hour or two siesta later.