Pumping

With all my verbal ..... yesterday about fire brigades forgot to mention I had to pump out our house cellar which was under a good 50 cm of water. Knee high as I found out as I went in wearing 30cm high wellies.

There is a small pump in a sump hole but it had somehow got stuck. Normally the amount of water that comes in would be little but we are having lots of sun and the snow is seemingly melting so slowly that it can get into the groundwater rather than simply run off into the streams and rivers.

Good for the environment after last summers drought but not for my nerves.

Got the pump working again but it could only just manage what was coming in and not get rid of the rest. So had to hook up another pump and get it dry.

No real harm was done as we have abandoned the cellar for anything of value.

And because the sun is shining so strongly, used the excess PV electricity today to pump out the 100,000 litres of groundwater that had also seeped into the cellar under the horse stables. It doesn't bother anyone and in summer we are happy to have it as a water reservoir but in winter if we have a spell of really cold weather it can freeze and then turn the stables into a fridge for months.

So now 100,000 litres of my water on its way to the Danube and one day will be lapping on the shores of the British Isles. And I promise I didn't personally add any other "liquid" to it. As we all know, all of us in Europe and indeed around the world are dependent on one another. Could be my son in Worthing or grandchildren in Ireland will go swimming in the stuff.