Tuesday 21 February 2023
Over the past week, it has become light enough in the mornings when I get up to not need lights on by the windows. I am even more appreciative of the fact we now have blinds up in the bedroom, but the velvety IKEA curtain has revealed itself to be even thinner than I expected so allows a lot of light in, to remind us that it is actually daylight. Sunrise in Selkirk today was 07:20 and sunset will be at 17:29. Lewisham today is 07:01 and sunset 17:26. We are catching up on sunrise and now overtaken London for sunset. These are things I was never really aware of before, but which I now appreciate thinking and knowing about.
There are other things I’m less enthusiastic about knowing about. We are currently trying to find someone/a company who can empty our septic tank. The more I find out about septic tanks, the more I dislike them. However, I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that what we eat is all part of the world around us so it’s a cycle that starts and finishes with the ground. Yeah, I know, it’s a stretch. Ours is not overflowing but appears to be fairly full (the no-water issues led us to discover a ‘viewing’ hatch for the ‘slurry’ – I say ‘we’, it’s Chris who has been dealing with this and I’m content to accept second-hand information). There is also an area of ground that, though it doesn’t smell, I suspect is something that doesn’t bear unnecessary scrutiny. Mind you, apparently if there is a leak or overflow, the grass around that area becomes particularly lush. That is not the case with the small area I’ve been wondering about. It may just be something else. I think I’ll let myself think that it is something else, while discreetly checking up on it every day just in case.
The main problem with the emptying out of our septic tank is that we have a bridge with an untested, ie unofficial, weight limit. The bridge is nine-foot wide and made of railway track as well as railway sleepers and there is a large concrete support in the middle. It looks very robust. But we really don’t need that to be tested too much. The previous owner reckoned over twenty-five tonnes has been across. The neighbour thinks fifteen tonnes is the maximum. I, who know nothing about weights, reckon it’s likely nearer twenty-five. I have no idea what a slurry tank weighs, but a few of the companies Chris has contacted have said no to the bridge but can pump it out if their pipe (pipe?) can reach it. The plan this morning is to measure the distance from bridge to septic tank by Chris taking roughly one-metre strides. In the meantime, we might have procured the phone number of the farmer who might have done it before. I am horrified that I have become a person who can write a post about poo. It started so well, sunrise and sunset. Oh well, this blog is intended to be about the differences between life in London and life in the middle of nowhere in Scotland. It’s definitely not all fresh air, hills, trees, rivers and beautiful scenery, but all that helps when you’re dealing with something a little less postcard-perfect.
