Rodding

You don't want to know the details of this; suffice it to say that our external soil pipe has blocked. Not for the first time. The problem seems to lie where the pipe goes down our path and then does a sharp left to follow a wider path. I don't know this for sure as I haven't got x-ray eyes to penetrate through the ground. So out with the rods. Mostly I rod from the top end which is nearest to the bend but here I'm having a go from down below which is slightly further and needs one or two extra rods. The only rods worth buying are the ones which have a nut which can be tightened with a spanner. The ones which just hand screw can too easily come undone. And you can buy rods which are twice the standard length which saves a lot of time and effort. The pipes are the old earthenware ones probably very old and I suspect one or two may also be broken with roots intruding. So at some stage we'll have to get new plastic pipes. If the planners will allow the use of new-fangled materials. Anyway things seem OK for now.

PS Just realised after notification from management that this is number 500. I've been so pre-occupied I'd totally forgotten that I needed to find something a little more inspiring than poking around in the plumbing.