Water Wonderful Water

For those of you who have followed our progress since we purchased 'Casa Tranquilla', you will already be more than familiar with our water challenges to date.

And, not to disappoint (lest we take the clear liquid for granted!) we had yet more water challenges this week.

On Saturday, water was pouring in a rather torrential way from the skies but we couldn't coax even a drop from our taps.

So we did the usual thing and panicked that the well had run dry, then phoned our geometra, who promised to get someone to look at it 'probably on Monday'.

It was Saturday. We had a friend from Australia staying with us. We had no water. The situation was more than a little frustrating, not to mention embarrassing.

Faced with the dismal prospect that we would have to drink, cook and wash in bottled water for 3 days at least, a generally gloomy atmosphere settled over our little rustico.

Finally, the most optimist one amongst us (who also happened to be the only male), encouraged a better atmosphere by suggesting that we go out for a coffee. And to buy copious amounts of water. And to go to the toilet.

So we headed off to the supermarket where we browsed the shelves, not seeing anything. The females of the party were distracted with thoughts of how long they could go without washing their hair. At what point would it stick up obscenely from the tops of their heads? At what point would it become plastered to their scalps? There were also thoughts related to community health. At what point would the toilet fill with obscene stenches? How long would it take for multiple deposits of excrement to back up?

The coffee helped. At least temporarily.

On Monday, the females donned hats and took a trip to Torino, while the male worked with the plumber for 3 hours until clear gold poured from our taps.

All in all, we coped reasonably well...but I certainly have a new respect for the person who invented buckets.

p.s. As I write this, something 'different' has happened in our water situation. We have supplies of hot water that last 1 minute only...but I guess that's another story...stay tuned!