Saturday, October 27, 2007

No Car. No Water. No Joy?

We are well into our second day without water following a storm which blew through bringing wind, masses of rain, and eroding the road surfaces. Mr. Wizard was told by the water company that they turn off the water to avoid sucking mud into the pipes. I don't know about the sucking of mud, but I do know that not having running water sucks.

Fortunately, with friends' help, we can get through these things. Here is a picture of my friend Chrissy who came over and we laughed and caught water to use for flushing toilets and mopping floors from a broken gutter. Because we also have no car, my friend Nora took me to the grocery store to provision for the weekend so that we can at least eat something other than from the tins in the cupboard. Other buddies, Quinten and Chris are fetching us for supper tonight. With friends, life is good!

The same storm that robbed us of water also tore up the roof on our rental house, so the workers are up there banging away to keep us dry. But we are hearing that a new roof might be coming! Great news! It has been disconcerting to watch the shingles whizzing by during every little storm since Hurricane Dean.

We also have no transportation since our car is being repaired, and life as we know it on the island has stopped to celebrate Creole. Three Nights of Pulsating Rhythms means no car for us since all the rentals cars on the island have been engaged by the festival people. I hate the idea of once again owning 2 vehicles, but it may come to that. Things do seem to happen all at once, don't they? But even if we had the vehicle, the road between us and town is nearly impassable from erosion. The torrential rain has dug beneath the tarmac in areas up to 12 inches deep. The forces of nature are mind boggling sometimes.

The Wiz and I were discussing this morning how much more able to cope we are here than we ever were in the US. Here we always have water stored, batteries charged, and a cupboard full of tins of food. In the US we were so lulled into complacency by the consistency of services that if we had 2 days of interrupted water, we would have been desperate for something to drink, not to mention all the other things in life which require water. I like the feeling that we are ok when systems break down (with a little help from our friends, of course) But it does make me wonder why we were ever so willing to bet things would continue to work in the US? I like the feeling that we are fine when things do not consistently work.



livingdominica: off to joyfully wash my hair in a bucket.

7 comments:

barcann said...

Hi again Jen
I just read your entry about no water.
Funny thing is I blogged about water today too, only I was blogging about no hot water.
Guess I should be grateful and stop bellyaching. LOL
hope you get your water back soon.
Barbara

Tica Macha said...

Wow, our lives are similar. I was just going through the catching rain water a couple of weeks ago. I am proud to announce I have clean, clear running water again. It sure teaches you what's important and what's not!
"Back to the Basics of Life" -
words from a song dear to me.
"Let's go to Lukenbach Texas..."

Island Chica said...

Interesting post, especially when you consider that where I live in the US, the severe drought means that come January we actually might NOT have water flowing from the faucet. We are awful dependent on our government to do things for us.

I enjoy your blog, BTW. I love reading about people who've chucked the trappings of American life for something different. I hope to one day have the courage to follow suit.

Jen Miller said...

One of the reasons we chose Dominica was the abundance of natural resources. This small island has abundant water.

Watching the water situation in the US is frightening.

keed said...

well water sure got the pulsating rhythms shivering...

Jen Miller said...

Billy, I had to get out my woolen socks and long sleeves the last couple of days. 72F feels freezing to me... I can't imagine trying to party in this wet weather!

zooms said...

but isn't it lovely to get 'snuggly' Jen?