up shit street without a plunger

as some of you know, we live on a bush-clad section in the rolling hills of a wellington suburb. what lurks beyond the fence (as we discovered today) should sometimes be left to lurk alone.

we've had a lot of rain lately, so the sound of running water coming from up the back of section wasn't cause for too much alarm. after all, there are creeks and waterways all over our suburb. it's quaint. when that running water started to smell a little crappy, i just figured it was our cats' poop being sluiced down through the bush.

when this morning i discovered DH's precious train tracks centimeters deep in GREY water, we figured it was time to call the council.

my expert PSE skills show the location of a hidden man-hole cover (1) lurking deep in the bush, that upon inspection by DH in his wellies, is broken; hence the running water pooling in (2) - on his custom-built train tracks.

i wasn't able to stick around for the fun and games that ensued once the council arrived, because i was helping out at the girls' school centenary. as serving wenches, we were required to wear black and white (see below). as a friend of colour, this is probably the last time you will probably see me looking like a minstrel.

but back to the poo...
see that manhole cover in the middle of the drive? the council dude opened that up and after lots of poking, dragged out a massive clump of tree roots. what he wanted to do after that, was poke around some more, so the excess of excrement could flow happily through the pipe that runs under our drive, away out of sight to wherever it goes after that. (don't know. don't care. that's why we pay rates).

what actually happened was far more spectacular. there WAS a small garden in figure (3) above, but yesterday it became a fountain of faeces which spewed forth down our drive. DH pxted me while i was a school, but even if i could figure out how to get the pic from my phone onto my computer, you just don't want to see.

that watermark you see is only water, after the council washed away the sea of sewerage that WAS our drive for a short time yesterday morning. all that remains now is a derelict garden that smells like a toilet.

i've never waitressed before in my life, so i thought i'd get in a little practice before i left the house

i snapped this as i was leaving the school centenary celebrations to come home. i really don't know why i took it. i guess i was just taken with the poignancy of it. this man was once an energetic 5 year old, running around the school playground, and he took the time to come back to reminisce and wish the school a happy 100.

that drive is quite steep and to see him shuffling up there with his zimmer frame - well, i was quite impressed.

there was a centenary birthday cake, cut by the youngest pupil and the oldest ex-pupil attending the weekend's celebrations. it was a woman who attended the school in 1916, so we figure even if she was 5 back then, she'd be close to 100 now. i missed the cutting of the cake as i was volunteering in another part of the school, but i wish i'd seen it.

i hope i can drag my 90-something year old butt out of the house like she did when i'm that age.