Lately I have been 'camping in', my expression for living in a house that has no running water. On Sunday a pipe attached to an outside tap burst and I had to shut off the water at the meter. I can draw a little water for a bucket-full but only for a minute or two. There is, of course, no hot water as I shut off that service too as a precaution.

Luckily, the girls are in Melbourne for a few days. I can cope with the inconvenience but I doubt that they could. I do enjoy the somewhat spartan manner of heating a jug and sitting in a thimbleful of warm water in the bath. 

The plumbers are here and having a hard time of locating where the gal pipe meets the copper, the better to shut off the former. This house is old and jerry-built and nothing conforms to any proper specification so they will have to improvise. I hope things are resolved today for the sake of my family, who will be home on Friday.