Oh yeah, they are good, but it's a bugger to change the stopcock! That reminds me, I have a toilet related story -

A couple of weeks back, some mates of mine were in the pub (the Paviour's Arms on Page St for any Londoners who may know it) and my mate goes into the ladies loo. A few minutes later she came out looking dazed with blood pouring from her head. She'd pulled the chain, and the tank had fallen on her head. She ended up in Accident & Emergency at the local hospital, and will have a scar on her forehead for the rest of her life. Of course we all take the piss mercilessly!

Poor girl! That would have been a nasty shock. BTW, I can remember when, as a kid, reading one of Dorothy Sayers fine mystery stories, and Lord Peter says, "I am as baffled as a bathroom geyser." That floored me, so I looked it up at my school library. (No Internet in those days!) That was my introduction to the mysteries of British plumbing.

Yikes! Epona, your poor friend! LOL, I bet she never hears the end of THAT story! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Scholarcs! WHOOHOOO! So now you'll have a new, working diswasher! :D

Attalus, those are the type of tanks they had in some parts of Russia and Armenia when I was there last (about 1986). They did work well, when they worked! There seemed to be a mix of styles in that country...whoo.. in one Museum in Armenia, (and I'd seen similar in Leningrad), the facilities were a pair of indented 'footprints' over a hole in the floor, with a water tank on the wall above. Very..err.. interesting....

One thing I can say about having a new house is there really are fewer little 'surprises' to deal with! Although I did have to replace my sump pump after the first year. Darn thing had a loose float that kept getting caught and barely worked when needed, and the whole cheap thing just rusted solid so it stopped working. [img]tongue.gif[/img] The guy at the hardware store was great. On my first trip there he told me I didn't need such a large (as in powerful) one and saved me lots of money by pointing out how many gallons a minute they could pump out of my sump pit and even the smallest horse-powered one could pump so much water that frankly, if I ever HAD that much water in my basement, I'd be swimming for someplace else to live anyway! LOL [img]graemlins/laugh2.gif[/img]

On my second and third trips to the hardwares store..... uh this was a repair for the Three Stooges, I kid you not! My roomie and I knew nothing about sump pumps or plumbing and by sheer accident and imagination, we got the old one off and a new one installed...of course roomie insists I tell you we spent a whole day of vacation doing it and were so glad to have the parts finally fit and the pipes connected we forgot to clamp the pipes together and ...err.. turned on the pump only to find ourselves taking an "Ode to Sump Pit Shower"...UGH! [img]graemlins/1disgust.gif[/img] :D It was par for the course, every time I had thought some part of the process would be simple or complete.. something went wrong.. but boy when it was done AND worked better than the last one, I was happy and a bit proud of myself for doing it!

Then when a plumber was here to fix something in the upstairs bathroom and give me an estimate on some other work I was contemplating (adding a sink) I cheerfully pointed to the sump pump area and said "We put that one on, ourselves!" to which he replied, eyebrows raised, "You did that yourself?" I beamed at him proudly... but later... I wondered if what was going through his professional mind was not 'Wow, great job, ladies!' but more like "OH NO! I'd better run before it explodes!" [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh2.gif[/img]

[ 06-17-2002, 09:37 AM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

Cloudy, you may appreciate this!
Some of my most enduring childhood memories are of my dad fixing things with whatever was to hand - he had a great imagination! He once repaired a broken clutch cable on his car with 2 nails and a piece of string - it was enough to get us home! Another time a blown head gasket was fixed with paper and PVA wood glue - again only a temporary repair, but we got home that night. Egg in the radiator to temporarily fix a leak, anyone else done that? Or nylons to replace a broken fan belt?

I love it! Ingenuity is a great gift! Add some base skills and a lot of imagination and voila! We're all McGyvers.... [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

But of course, my dear breakfast delight! ;) How could I not share such insights and events with all of you? *snicker* Besides, it WAS slow on the board when I posted this.. hehe.....

[img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] As for the waste disposal in Crete, EWWWWWWWW ... yes, I think I might have been a bit surprised at that procedure too, but I guess if it avoids clogged pipes?.... blech! The flies must have been pretty thick, or so I'd imagine! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 06-17-2002, 10:42 AM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

Well it's like that all over Greece Amber - public toilets get pretty whiffy by mid-afternoon in the heat of summer [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img] But the plumbing is very dodgy, so better that than blocked pipes. Also many of the islands have water shortages in summer when the tourists descend, so flushing too often is probably not a good idea! Although there is plenty of seawater around, could use that for toilets I suppose?

Actually I love Greece - it's one of my favourite places in the whole world. Donut, where have you been in Crete? I like the West of the Island, still retains some of its charm. Hania is lovely. Iraklion less so (and how many stray dogs do you reckon are there?) but it's worth visiting if just to use as a base to see Knossos!

Well it's like that all over Greece Amber - public toilets get pretty whiffy by mid-afternoon in the heat of summer [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img] But the plumbing is very dodgy, so better that than blocked pipes. Also many of the islands have water shortages in summer when the tourists descend, so flushing too often is probably not a good idea! Although there is plenty of seawater around, could use that for toilets I suppose?

Actually I love Greece - it's one of my favourite places in the whole world. Donut, where have you been in Crete? I like the West of the Island, still retains some of its charm. Hania is lovely. Iraklion less so (and how many stray dogs do you reckon are there?) but it's worth visiting if just to use as a base to see Knossos!</font>[/QUOTE]Ag Nic [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh blimey, was that before or after it became centre of the lager lout clubbing scene? :D

EDITING: Whoops, that made it sound like I was calling you a lager lout, that's not what I meant [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 06-17-2002, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Epona ]

Oh blimey, was that before or after it became centre of the lager lout clubbing scene? :D

EDITING: Whoops, that made it sound like I was calling you a lager lout, that's not what I meant [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]It was me that started it!!

I'm a cider lout BTW!