In the US, when we turn on a tap, water spurts out with plenty of pressure. I never really questioned how that happened, but I guess we have water pumping stations that keep the pressure up.
In Egypt, it's not so simple. Instead, every home, restaurant, and apartment has a huge water tank and a water pump engine, especially important when the apartment is far above the water tank.
And I hear you asking, "What is that weird blue globe thing on top of the engine in the picture?" At least that's what I wondered when I first saw one.
Inside the blue globe is a plastic balloon, just like a birthday balloon, but of much stronger plastic. The 1-horsepower engine sucks water from the tank and fills the balloon, expanding it until it fills the metal globe and can expand no farther. Then the "automatic" turns off the engine and the strong elastic balloon shrinks, pushing the water up to an apartment and keeping the water pressure steady.
OK. Now that you know way more than you wanted to know about how I get my water, I'll go on with my story...
You know how when you have an old car and first one thing breaks, then another thing, and suddenly it's one thing after another like all the parts of your car have the same expire date? Well, the same thing happens to water pumps.
-- A month ago the elastic balloon broke. A plumber opened up the globe and replaced the balloon.
-- Then the "automatic" broke. It was replaced.
-- Then some kind of ball-bearing thing broke (don't you love how technically knowledgeable I am?). We got a plumber in to fix it while congratulating ourselves that we didn't have to buy a new engine.
-- Then we noticed a lot of air in the pipes, and spitting and sputtering. Uh-oh. One of the seals on the engine had broken and was slowly leaking our tank's 3 tons of water out and turning the dirt floor of the building's basement into mud! Ack! It took us a while to get a plumber 'cause of a holiday (doesn't everything break on a holiday?), but eventually we got one.
Everything's fixed!
(Until something new breaks.)
Now you can all feel very grateful for the luxury of just turning on your tap.
You're welcome.
Have you had a car or appliance that just kept breaking down?
New Member for Celebrate – Update Your Blog Rolls:
Yvonne Ventresca http://yvonneventresca.com/blog.html
Welcome Yvonne!
Removed From the Celebrate List – Update Your Blog Rolls:
Project Why (Anuradha Bakshi) http://projectwhy.blogspot.com
Eclectic Ali https://eclecticali.wordpress.com/
My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog
Celebrate The Small Things Linky:
Grab the Linky html-code here:
** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **
Foxy's Friday Freebies!
Foxy has been nosing around the net.
When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Friday Freebies posts -
- Free short stories, novellas, and novels
- Giveaways for books and swag
- Free services for authors
Here are Foxy's suggestions for July 15, 2016:
Download FREE at: Amazon B&N Kobo Smashwords
Download C. Lee’s short story “Tsantsas” HERE. (scroll down the page for the sign-up & your free short story! Ends Aug 1st)
If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here! Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com
a Rafflecopter giveaway
LAST CHANCE TO WIN
A BLOODWALKER CARD DECK!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
44 comments:
Why is it that things happen like that on a holiday, glad you have managed to get it fixed. Hope all is well now.
That's a lot of water...
I think I went through three new microwaves before I got one that worked as it should... sigh.
That Bloodwalker card deck looks brilliant, and wow! So many freebies!
I'm so glad you got your pump fixed in the end. We really do take our water for granted here in the UK. Now I shall think of you whenever I turn on a tap :)
Have a stress free weekend ♥
LOL - I was just thinking, that's more than I needed to know about the water when you said that. However, it was all needed for your story. Would it have been cheaper in the end to have replaced the entire blue thing?
So glad you got that fixed, and so sorry it took a long time on the holiday! Yes, we have stuff that goes in the shop regularly or needs a repair person over regularly. It gets monotonous and expensive.
That's actually a pretty ingenious system!
Where I am, the pumping is done from the wellhead to a holding tank that's up the hill from where I live. Water pressure is maintained for those of us on town water by gravity. Every once in a while, I entertain the question of what would happen if the holding tank broke and all that water came cascading down the hill....
Here's hoping your home needs no repairs for a while!
Glad we don't have one of those. Although everything does seem to start breaking one thing right after the other.
You got a lot of entries in your giveaway. Think I've only got about a hundred.
A basement full of mud! On a holiday! After replacing parts one after another after another-! Now THAT is inspiration for a horror story!!! (I hope your weekend is far less stressful, far more enjoyable and filled with nice, invigorating showers!)
What a pain!!! We bought a washing machine and a week later it wasn't working, then a month later something else went wrong, you get the picture. Then the day after the warranty ran out it died again. We bought a lemon which only lasted a year!!!!
Glad it's fixed. Let's hope nothing else goes haywire!
We've had issues with our air conditioner. Yes, always on a weekend or holiday and during the hottest day of the year.
Oh boy! I would not want to have my water supply mercy to such a machine. Yes, I am grateful for public plumbing. Knock on wood, but the only appliance not working well is our ice machine in the freezer. Not a disaster.
That freebie on Greenville made me laugh because my sister lives in Greenville, SC which is right next door to Georgia.
Lexa, that's interesting info I didn't know. I reckon I do take for granted something as simple as water pressure from my tap. However, I didn't know it was done any different other places. I will have to ask DH where is the water pressure pump located, but I'd think it has to be at the street or even further away. Hmm, this is gonna drive me nuts until I get the answer. lol I threw my CTST at the very bottom of my unusually long post today. Yep, it's BoTB time. I hope you'll decide to cast your vote for your favorite pick. There's no right or wrong choice, it's all about what you like and a whole lot of fun! Have a good weekend!
More Than A Feeling #BoTB showdown #Music #Celebrate
That water system sounds complicated. I'm glad you got everything fixed and working again. I know what you mean about having one thing after another falling apart. Usually it's my car. I just had to replace the fuel pump and now it's got some kind of front shock/strut problem. Before that, it was a rear shock/strut problem. It seems like once vehicles get to a certain age, they become a constant drain on the pocketbook.
Liked the exotic running water story. I tend to bitch about my own water woes since the dishwasher & kitchen sink don't work and as I'm on disability will probably never work during my lifetime. But at least the bathtub faucet works fine and I can fill plastic pitchers and keep them in the kitchen. I feel bad for all the third world housewives who have to begin their day by hauling water from a well that may not even have safe water.
I get upset by some of the bad things in our world (terrorist attacks) but there are a lot of little things out there we can celebrate, aren't there?
Nissa from
http://myantimatterlife.wordpress.com
(Because my Blogger account will NOT let me post using my Wordpress identity.)
It's crazy how everything breaks all at once, isn't it? We have a car that's broken down right now, and fixing it has proven to be quite the pain.
Sorry you've had so much trouble this week, but at least everything is fixed now! I hope nothing else breaks. Have a great weekend :)
That contraption is so interesting! I'm glad it's working now and fingers crossed nothing else breaks with it. My car is currently broken. You don't know how much you're dependent on something until it doesn't work.
I have decorative tulip lights above our kitchen counter and I can't keep all three of them working. I've replaced the bulbs dozens of times to no avail.
It's annoying when things break like that, isn't it? It would almost be better if the whole thing just went kaput, rather than having to replace piece after piece after piece. I had my own plumbing nightmare the other day when my toilet suddenly broke. I had a moment of panic because we live in a house with only one bathroom and I had visions of how disgusting it would be after even a day of 4 people using it without being able to flush. Luckily my usual plumber had a friend who could come over at a moment's notice and fix it. Crisis averted!
What a pain with the water pump...and here's to hoping it's satisfied and will pump for many years to come. As to cars breaking down, let's not even go there.
Have you heard the old saying: "When it rains it pours?" Seems like you had a flood. I'm glad it's all fixed now and hope you don't have any more troubles with water or air conditioning or whatever.
Yes, I'm thankful for my water. It's a life's necessity.
Have restful weekend. You deserve it. :)
I've been something like that with a vehicle. I kept taking it in to the dealer for maybe three months. They kept fixing things but not the real problem. After they finally resolved the issue, I no longer had any confidence in the vehicle and traded it in. Great selection of free stuff this week.
Over the years, I've lost my air conditioner and my oven(both too old for anyone to fix) and as there's a new regulation about range hoods and how high above the stove they have to be I'd have to get in a carpenter to take away my cupboards and build new ones before I could buy a full sized stove, so I'm now using a small convection oven for baking, a gift from a friend - the stove top and grill still work, for now. But at least I can bake again! As for the cooling and heating, I have a small fan for summer and a small fan heater for winter. It's okay. I manage.
Three tons of water! On a holiday?! What a mess. Good to hear it's fix up, but that all ready stinks.
You have had quite the year with various household malfunctions/issues. I'll say it out loud for you: Enough!
There. Now nothing else should go wrong. (I will be so impressed with myself if that actually works. :))
I have had something that keeps having problems. Last year we added hardwood in part of our main level. Well ... damn wood had been recently shipped from China. The most humid part of China apparently. Colorado is semi-arid. Do you see where I'm going? We had buckled wood that pulled apart and left huge gaps, even though we let it "rest" for several weeks before installing it. Ugh ... We ended up having to have it taken out and re-installed. Super frustrating.
Here's a story for you. We're remodelling our beach house after building it 16 years ago. So as we banged and messed around, the appliances got into the act. First it was the cooktop--only one side worked, then the oven decided to go crazy--temperatures fluctuated, different settings no longer worked, then the dishwasher decided it was tired of washing our dirty plates and just refused to work. We were always thankful our fridge was holding it together, but no, it got into the act--bam! I'm done. So as well as painting walls, laying carpet etc, we've replaced all our appliances. Thankfully, it was during the financial year sales! That just leaves the microwave...
"Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink."
Fingers crossed that your problems are over.
I can relate to this. I had several plumbing issues last fall/winter all happening around the same time.
Thanks for the shout-out, Lexa! I'm happy to join the hop and will look at your blogroll next. Hope your water situation is fixed!
Yvonne V
I have never heard of such a contraption. We are lucky here that all we do is turn on a tap. Mind you, when the water main breaks or something like that, it is costly. I agree with you100% that if one thing breaks then another will soon after. Hope all is going well. I'm sorry you don't know when I have responded....I don't know why but I can see that every time I leave a message like this, my email comes up saying undeliverable. I don't know why
Holy mackerel. I'm glad you got it all sorted. It does seem that things systematically break... (You)
Boy, your water woes make me glad I have a well!
Thanks for listing me on Foxy Freebies!! I do feel like I live in luxury because all my needs are taken care of without thought. Every time I read about someone being without water or even water pressure, I feel grateful. Glad to hear your water pressure is back up and running!
Dancing Lemur looks to have some interesting stories in their publishing line up. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
I do actually feel suddenly very grateful for water pressure. No kidding. We all have a tendency not to appreciate those luxuries until they're gone!
Have a great week!
Deborah
Crazy. I'm glad your pump is working...for now. We've had all kinds of issues with our AC. The dang builders used really crappy subcontractors and we ended up footing the bill for many, many repairs. Hoping that's over with now.
Hey, thanks for the freebies and have some cheese, eh?
THanks for hosting a wonderful giveaway!
Hi human, Lexa,
I wouldn't want a huge water tank like that. Although, with the current heat wave over here in the UK, which would be quite cold in Egypt, I'd like to empty a bunch of the water all over myself. Arf!
You always have such pawesome giveaways, my human friend.
Pawsitive wishes,
Penny!
I'm very grateful for my comforts and the luxuries of water, we must never take for granted. My friend lives in Egypt too and often relays stories of how things differ. Glad all is fixed again. Have a lovely week.
Sorry about your pump. We have one in our house, too. Air got in last spring and water would only drip from our taps. Hubby fixed it by mistake. LOL. Love your cover, Lexa.
Haha plumbing issues do happen when I have visitors too!
Hi Lexa (smile) Thank you, I appreciate that I'm still on the celebrate list! Will be posting tomorrow. Blessings!
This sounds like the things that happen at our house. Things just keep breaking one after another. I guess you know more about water tanks now, lol. I know more about air conditioners and water heaters than I did before ours broke down. Hahaha.
Post a Comment