Ok, so it isn't as good as the 'glass half empty or half full' quote but I'm trying (really trying) to not be reduced to tears by the situation. You see, just the day before it was a tank that was 3/4 of the way full. We'd had a lot of rain, the tank had filled - this is the consolation of summer rain for any person on tank water. While the majority of people despise summer rain for messing up their beach plans we water tank owners are jumping for joy when those drops of H2O fall from the heavens. So with our heaven filled tank we were breathing a sigh of relief that we'd not have to spend another cent on a water fill (after the whoopsey situation last time). Cue one large farm animal to disconnect the main feed hose and shatter this dream. Our beautiful possum-poo infused water, all except about 3 inches deep of it was gone. Drained out all over the ground. We peer into the tank, a few inches of water remained along with a layer of green sludge. It'll need to be cleaned. It is now about 8.30 pm so we make the 90 minute round trip to my parent's house to use their shower.
First thing in the morning I called the tank cleaning and filling people and found out that they were booked up for a two weeks so I checked the price of having the tank cleaning person come out first....$320!!! Not in our budget at the moment. This nearly sent me to tears. I had a 1.5 litre bottle of water that was like liquid gold to me. With the reality that I wouldn't be getting water today I went to my parent's house for another shower, Sam would have one at work. When Sam got home that evening he donned his wetsuit, modified a ladder to fit in the hole and I hyperventilated at the thought of him climbing into this enclosed space. It took him an hour or so but he scrubbed, bailed and towel dried the interior of the tank. In the end it was sparkling clean. We booked the water for Saturday morning. I fantasized over the thought of turning on a tap and water coming out. Little did I know that that dream was still quite a way away.
On Saturday the water tank man arrived, he pumped 10,000 litres of water into the tank for $170. When he'd left I climbed the ladder and peered into the hole to see water and was almost knocked out by the smell of chlorine. Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that. I jumped for joy and filled the animal troughs to the brim using the pump, the I raced to the house to turn on the tap. I stared at the pile of dishes, thought of flushing the toilet, remembered that I must turn on the hot water cylinder so that we could have a nice hot shower at OUR house tonight and with much anticipation I lifted the handle of the mixer........NOTHING! Not a single cough, splutter or dribble. What? I managed to get a slight dribble out of the bathroom tap but nothing else worked. Must be an air lock. Now, years ago this would have been something I'd but having a gentleman that opens every single door for me, forbids me from heavy lifting or strenuous 'blokes work' I've become somewhat gumptionless. No climbing under the house to locate the drainage tap for me. Sam was working a 12 hour shift so I delivered the news that there'd be no hot showers at our house tonight and we'd be flushing the loo with trough water and brushing our teeth with bottled water again. So, I took myself over to my parent's house again for a hot shower. On Sunday morning I went to the laundromat to use up their water and came across a lady in the same situation although the cause of her water shortage was her townie daughter in law having long showers, doing a load of washing ever day and leaving the water running while she leisurely brushed her teeth!
When I returned home with a car boot load of soggy washing Sam had sorted the water situation and turned on the hot water cylinder, hip-hip-hooray. I hung the gargantuan load of washing on the line and the wire fences and actually kicked back for a second. The novelty of turning on a tap and having water come out took a while to wear off. We were grinning like Cheshire cats.
That night I stepped into the shower and breathed a sigh of relief. Then I stepped out of the shower and gasped in horror as my legs burned and skin crawled. Chlorine, yuck. And here we are three days later and it is getting worse. It appears that my body has developed a hypersensitivity to chlorine. I suppose for the last 10 years I've not really been exposed to it. I swim in lakes and rivers rather than swimming pools, I'm really only exposed to chlorinated water when I wash my hands and usually I don't have an adverse reaction but now that I'm exposed to it daily my hands burn constantly. On top of that nothing soothes it. I've tried every lotion and moisturiser I own, nothing helps.
I suppose the chlorine will disappear slowly but for the next week or two I'll have to grin and bear it! The upside is the animals had half filled troughs so the addition of the chlorinated water means it is diluted and doesn't bother them, thank goodness for that.
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