The Sage announced this morning that the Aga was going to be serviced, so he’d turned it off. This was a Good Thing as it enabled me to give it a thorough clean. I also turned out the fridge and scrubbed it out – all a rare dabble in domesticity. Anyone looking in the fridge now would receive a quite erroneous impression of my priorities, as there’s very little food and a lot of drink. Some fish, plain yoghurt, cottage cheese and milk, half a jar of mayonnaise and some jam, plus a lot of booze and a few cans of *Dave’s Tipple* and lemonade. The freezer compartment contains ice. Cubes, that is, it’s not iced up. The fridge will have some soup in it soon, as the rest of what I made for dinner is cooling down now. That reminds e, there’s also half a waternelon.
Enough of the voyage round my kitchen. It rained this afternoon. The thunder sent me nicely to sleep, so I’m not sure how much rain we had, but at least it will have helped Dave’s garden. He is hoping for enough rain to fill his water butts and save him from having to carry his bath water down the stairs – a recipe for disaster, I think, but then I’m quite clumsy. I would have to stand at the window and chuck buckets in the general direction of the garden. Bucketfuls of water, I should say. Not much point in an empty bucket being thrown.
I am wondering whether to mention the gate to the Sage, the wrought iron one that is to fit into the wall. I have already, a couple of times in the past few weeks, the last time being to suggest that a break in bricklaying would be a good opportunity to get it sandblasted and to paint and fit it, and he agreed with me. So, will he do it next week while I’m away without me reminding him? I would prefer not to in case he’s planning to get it done and surprise happy me with it on my return. But he might not think of it at all, in which case I’d have to pretend not to be disappointed. And I really do want it up, it’s a nuisance having to keep moving barriers, and when it’s windy they shift enough to allow a small bunny in.
Maybe I’ll mention it to Al or Dilly instead and they can raise the subject. That would be more tactful.
…Like you, I too, am a misanthrope for saving water; such; to eschew wasteful baths and showers. Me? I do full stripped-off basin washes from just a kettle full of boiling water just like the Victorians used to do and my ‘uncle’ back in the 50’s at the kitchen sink after returning from his grubby, navvy, railways job.
I don’t go that far, I do love a bath. Back in the winter I had to do the basin wash thing and it was surprisingly all right.
The most water-saving thing we do is not be on mains drainage. All the water we use is returned to the earth, not piped away to be wasted. And it’s incredibly efficient, the septic tank hasn’t been emptied since 1983, it just digests away quietly.