There's Oil in Them Thar Hills!

While waging war on the thistles this morning I struck oil, well okay, water. But it was a gusher! Had my lovely wife call the real estate agent for advice while I tried to stem the flow. I couldn't find a stop cock, so I tried (in my useless sort of way) wrapping a towel around the pipe. I should mention, the "mains" pipe leading into the house is a small plastic affair running about a millimeter below the surface. The real estate agent, who are just over 100 Kilometers from here (they've been wonderful, helpful and welcoming, as everyone here in Tassie has) informed us that the nearest plumber is in a town 50 Kms from here. (Have I mentioned previously just how small this town is?) They said the next door neighbour would know where the stop cock was... He wasn't there, but his son Phil was, so we both looked again. Still no joy. While I started adding up in my head how much a plumber and his call out fee was going to be from so far away, Phil nipped back next door and got a plastic pipe join, of exactly the right size and shape, and proceeded to fit same to the damaged pipe. Within 5 minutes we had a fully functional, non-leaking pipe again. And I was left feeling humbled by the generosity of country folk (I'd never actually been introduced to Phil prior to this) and the raw practical ability some people have to cope with situations that I'm totally at sea with.

Basil has now of course been digging around the area of the former leak, so the pipe that had been just below the surface is now fully exposed for maybe a meter of it's length.

I just went out the back and realised that the plum tree on which we've been waiting for the fruit to ripen is actually a granny smith apple tree. We'd just assumed it was a plum tree because the other trees around it are all cherry plum trees of various types. Needless to say, I've picked some apples.

Time for my second cuppa then into setting out Writers Block into a format that Aurealis wont reject out of hand due to silly formatting gaffs etc...

Well, I submitted it. Heard back from the editor surprisingly fast. Apparently this tiny little town was a holiday spot for him in his youth (35 years ago). Anyhow, he'll apparently let me know in a week or so.