Thinking outside the tap

Thinking outside the tap

Wouldn't you know, just when i was planning a period of rest and review, life threw me a curved ball and I just had to capture it on paper!

Our water supply failed last night
Suddenly,  with no warning.
One minute I was rinsing a bowl of strawberries
(So trivial an act, such a profligate waste)
The next the stream had slowed to a trickle,
A gurgle,  a drop,  a drip,
The pipework growling like a disturbed dog.

We checked with the neighbours -
All in the same beached boat
Some resigned, some humorous,
None were panicking like me.
We checked with the water company -
A standard message: due to unprecedented demand
In an exceptionally dry period, (blah, blah, blah)
They value our custom and are working tirelessly (etc, etc, etc).
We checked on the local Facebook group -
It rumoured all would be fixed by 2am.
We joked our teeth would have to wait until the morning;
This morning nothing had changed.

I thought I understood the importance of water,
How precious a resource it is.
I buy Wateraid Christmas cards,
Toilet rolls supporting third world toilets,
We collect rainwater in tanks,
Fill the kettle with just enough,
Turn off the taps to clean our teeth.

But in the 24 hours since the tap ran dry
I've lost count of the times
I've gone to wash my hands,
Gone to fill the kettle
Gone to wipe down the worktop,
Gone to wash the dishes
Only to realise I'm faced with a useless dry pipe.

We've drained the water butt
Robbing the garden to flush the toilet,
(Shh, not every time it's been used)
Bought bottles for drinking,
Started using hand gel, hoping the virus won't notice
We've stopped washing with soap for 20 seconds.

Each day of lockdown taught me how much I take for granted
Each hour without water teaches me about more basic needs.
Now I really know the importance of water.


© Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leave taking

I've been to two funerals recently. I suppose it's inevitable that their frequency will increase as I get older,  and my peer group ages alongside me.  It makes you consider your own mortality, and prompts a resolve to use the days left to you more wisely.  But somehow you never do, preferring to think there's still enough time left.   The death of an elderly uncle is easier to bear. It's possible to reflect on a long life, well lived,  To remember the fun you had when you were small, How he made you shriek until you were breathless,  To consider the grace of his faith, which eased his end.  The death of my sunny, fun-filled friend Is much harder to balance. We are all too aware She had too few years to enjoy her joyful take on life,  Will miss out on too many evenings full of laughter,  No longer guide her grandchildren into adulthood. Both deaths celebrated as a release from pain.  Both lives celebrated as lives lived well.  We carry their memories home with us,   To
Read more

Dont go to India

I wrote this after a toilet stop in the way from Jaipur to Varaneeshya.  Don't go to India  not if you worry about squatting over a hole in the ground, with no running water. not if you worry about hawkers thrusting their wares in your face, "300, 200, 100 only". not if you worry about children caked in street filth, tugging at your sleeve, your heart. not if you worry about rubbish, plastic bottles, bags, packaging, strewn across the streets. But if you can make peace with all that  you will find beauty wherever you look. ©  Copyright 2023. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved
Read more

Lady Godiva Reveals All

Day 30: ' write a poem in which the speaker is identified with, or compared to, a character from myth or legend, as in  Claire Scott’s poem “ Scheherazade at the Doctor’s Office .”' Final day! A mixture of relief and disappointment - I shall miss these challenges that wake up the brain and take it down unexpected passageways, but I must admit I'm feeling a little weary.  For today's effort I'm choosing to write in the voice of Lady Godiva, a body positive role model if ever there was!  Of course, I wasn't actually naked. Do you really think I'd parade around Coventry Without a stitch to cover my embarrassment? I may have been cross at Leofric's greed In overtaxing the good people of that town,  But even to fulfill my side of his extraordinary bargain I wasn't about to expose my tender rump To the coarse swaying of my horse!   I wore a secret garment fashioned from the finest silk,  Dyed the colour of my pale, highborn skin,  Cunningly sewn by my dear
Read more