The Trek

Last Wednesday I cautiously stepped along a narrow ridge keeping close to the steep, craggy slopes as I peered down into a chasm of raging waters. I traversed the mountain range in the torrential rain, sinking knee deep in clay and mud with every step.

OK. So I was walking down the common driveway of our battle-axe block but maybe this is how it looked to a child like our neighbour's four-year-old son. We had a metre-deep trench down our side of the driveway and a ‘mountain range’ of clay and dirt alongside it. The plumbers had created a path for Tony when he left for work but when I left mid-morning the narrow path ended halfway down the drive. I then had to climb over the pile and walk along the neighbours' garden to reach the road. Luckily it was my day off and I was wearing flat-soled boots instead of my high-heeled shoes. The first thing I did when I arrived at my destination was find a restroom and clean the mud off my boots!

In a previous post I noted that clay pipes and tree roots are not a good combination and this excavation was the culmination of a series of plumbing problems over the last two years. The clay sewer pipes were cracked and clogged with roots so we were finally replacing them. The water pipe was also replaced because last month we had had to divert our water supply when the pipe broke under the concrete slab extension. And only six months ago we put in drains to stop the formation of Lake Parents' Retreat in the spare room. Fingers crossed we will not be seeing the plumbers for a couple of years.

“The dinosaurs are not all dead.
 I saw one raise its iron head ...”

It watched me as I trekked back to our ‘lodge’ with supplies.

Let me dream! We're not likely to be trekking in any exotic locales for some time.