There's not much point getting out of bed when the weather's like this, but this morning Muffy succeeded in dragging me into the civilised world about 10. When I looked outside to see what the weather was doing, I noticed the water lapping dangerously close to the edge of the pool. Since there's a downhill slope between the pool and my place, which is built a mere 1cm above ground, I immediately flew into panic mode.
I rang Philip at work to get instructions for pumping some water out and was mightily proud of myself - not to mention exceedingly surprised - at being able to find a lever atop a big sphere in the pump-house, press down on it, turn it 180 degrees, then, in a little box above the pump-house, switch off the middle of three switches. Easy. I let about 4cm of water run out, then reversed the procedure.
I didn't give it another thought till later in the afternoon, when I glanced out the window and saw the 4cm space at the top of the pool had expanded to about 34cm and was still going!!!! Of course I rang Philip straight away and went over all the steps of the procedure again, but still the water kept gushing from a pipe at the side. Philip made an early exit from the office and rang the pool man from the train. He said it's not unknown for a pump to keep pumping even when it's switched off, especially if a gasket has blown and the valve has stopped functioning. Oh goodness, I've never been so pleased to see Philip arrive home. He banged and crashed about a bit and managed to stop the outflow till he can get the pool man to come in the morning.
Breaking news (though not in the right order):
A helicopter has crashed a few kilometres away, killing two.
I rang Philip at work to get instructions for pumping some water out and was mightily proud of myself - not to mention exceedingly surprised - at being able to find a lever atop a big sphere in the pump-house, press down on it, turn it 180 degrees, then, in a little box above the pump-house, switch off the middle of three switches. Easy. I let about 4cm of water run out, then reversed the procedure.
I didn't give it another thought till later in the afternoon, when I glanced out the window and saw the 4cm space at the top of the pool had expanded to about 34cm and was still going!!!! Of course I rang Philip straight away and went over all the steps of the procedure again, but still the water kept gushing from a pipe at the side. Philip made an early exit from the office and rang the pool man from the train. He said it's not unknown for a pump to keep pumping even when it's switched off, especially if a gasket has blown and the valve has stopped functioning. Oh goodness, I've never been so pleased to see Philip arrive home. He banged and crashed about a bit and managed to stop the outflow till he can get the pool man to come in the morning.
Breaking news (though not in the right order):
A helicopter has crashed a few kilometres away, killing two.
Oh dear. How awful. But why would anybody in their right mind go out in weather like this? the crash investigators rhetorically wondered aloud.
1 comment:
Woah! this is the kind of weather I
thought exclusive to the UK - please keep it until our winter raises it's ugly head and then we'll have it back. Good work on the pool; I was trying to image you fiddling with the pump and hoping for the best.
It was difficult and made me laugh but knowing how efficient you are whilst pretending otherwise I knew it would be OK. XX
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