What have you been doing today?

[Mottie]

'Lanes' for drains?

Andy

Yep, but always in a liveried Thames Water vehicle. They said they could not authorise/carry out repairs above a certain amount and the Network engineer has to authorise them. Sometimes they say the engineer tells them to jet them at full power to test the condition and that sometimes destroys the drain!

 

[conny]

Update: ............. so I took the opportunity to get rid of this mornings big boy in her bathroom.

View attachment 290147

Which is one of the reasons I don't give/lend my house keys to anyone!

 

[Mottie]

Which is one of the reasons I don't give/lend my house keys to anyone!

Blimey Conny, are you honestly saying that if a neighbour who you trust to have the keys to your house had a blocked drain and you were away, that you would be upset if they used your loo in an emergency? This neighbour would have no problem - she'd be more upset if she found out that we hadn’t! In fact when the the neighbours that live opposite found out why the drain people were constantly attending, they gave us an open invitation to use their loo and even their shower if we wanted. I’d certainly do the same.

 

[Brigadier]

Which is one of the reasons I don't give/lend my house keys to anyone!

An old neighbour used to work continental shifts, and was starting 1400-ish. His window cleaner had turned up in the morning, cleaned his windows, then knocked the door and asked to use the toilet. Five minutes later, the window cleaner came downstairs and left.


About an hour later, neighbour went upstairs to get ready for work, and almost had his eyes and throat stripped by the stench

 

[securespark]

I must say as a spark, I've had a few odd moments regarding toilets and customers.

One lady refused when I asked to use the toilet.

A colleague was also refused (at a different property). He was fit to bust, so had to do one in a waste bag in the back of the van. That was stinky. Talk about hazardous waste....

Then there was the time I did a Tom in a rather posh lady's house and it wouldn't bleedin' flush. OMG.....

 

[conny]

As my only neighbour is a bedridden 84-year-old woman I don't think she will be visiting to use our loo!

To be fair/honest, I've had trust issues with people many times in the past. People you should automatically be able to trust, people you thought you could trust and people you gave the benefit of the doubt. I have been left 'betrayed' by various ones in each category.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I went to do a survey a few hours from home on a Saturday morning a few years back in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, I arrived about 6am so as I wouldn't get stuck there for the whole day but soon realised I absolutely had to do a No2 and nowhere open or public loos available (property had no loo) so ended up driving out of the village and found a convenient farmers field. At least I've always had the forethought to carry some bog roll in my surveying bag.

 

[crystal ball]

Back in the eighties I was fitting a shower in a property, the lady had gone out to work so I took the chance to have a number 2, just got started and heard her car on the drive, door opened and she ran upstairs just as I had flushed and pulled my keks up, she had forgotten to tell me which end of the bath she wanted the shower.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

To be fair/honest, I've had trust issues with people many times in the past. People you should automatically be able to trust, people you thought you could trust and people you gave the benefit of the doubt. I have been left 'betrayed' by various ones in each category.

Working in an office full of seemingly 'professional' people I've always been staggered by the state of the (small) bogs they can be left in sometimes, pee on the seat, crap all over the pan, not flushed, can't be arsed to open a window etc.

 

[crystal ball]

I went to do a survey a few hours from home on a Saturday morning a few years back in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, I arrived about 6am so as I wouldn't get stuck there for the whole day but soon realised I absolutely had to do a No2 and nowhere open or public loos available (property had no loo) so ended up driving out of the village and found a convenient farmers field. At least I've always had the forethought to carry some bog roll in my surveying bag.

Had to use carrier bags a couple of times, once in a factory where I was alone & toilets were in a locked section, another in a house where the bathroom was being renovated.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Hmm, maybe I need t add a carrier bag to my inventory? Don't carrier bags have little holes?

 

[conny]

Hmm, maybe I need t add a carrier bag to my inventory? Don't carrier bags have little holes?

Only the cheap ones if you can still get them.

 

[Ihavenojob]

Trying to get to Epsom for another pi55 up, not having much luck with trains.

 

[Mottie]

They were only contractors - network engineer attending tomorrow and should authorise the repair. To be continued…….

Engineer arrived at 10.50. Had a chat with me and then said he's just waiting for the camera crew to turn up so he sat in his van. Camera crew turned up ay 12.05. He then chatted with them in their lorry until 1.20. - I think they were examining all previous camera footage. They then got all the stuff out and started the inspection and they finished that at 2.30. There are faults at 2, 6 and 10 metres that need sorting. Upshot is, he's got to first serve notice to myself and the two neighbours that the drain runs through before commencement of work or earlier if all served by hand and agree to an early start. If my neighbour hadn’t had been on holiday he could have started the process today provided she had been personally served. As it is, he's got to post hers to her as he’s not allowed to just put it through the door. They may core and reline it but he is going to suggest that they renew it but it will all come down to cost. His manager will be making the decision. One thing he tells me they are going to do is that a new manhole will be created and sited in my drive which will make things easier for them, more so in the future if ever there’s any blockages. That will be good for me too because if my macerator ever packs up again, I’ll be able to have a 'normal' soil pipe connection to the drain, straight down my driveway. That’s the only thing that turned me off doing that in the first place - the thought of breaking into the sewer and fitting a manhole.

 

[conny]

You've got to love your job, (or the wages), to go poking in drains at midnight between Christmas & New Year.
Sorry, but at my age I've done enough 'unsocial' call outs to last a lifetime and no amount of money would get me to do another one.