Maribyrnong’s underwater park: an update
Do you remember the pics of the brand new Maribyrnong playground from a couple of weeks ago, showing severe drainage problems?
On Saturday night there was heavy rain in the area, but evidently the City of Maribyrnong’s drainage experts have been busy, because on Sunday morning the park was almost dry — and certainly not underwater.
I like the way the notices made it clear they weren’t totally oblivious to the problems.
Would it have killed them to design this playground with some drainage?
For some time I’ve had my doubts about the competence of the City of Maribyrnong engineering department, specifically the people who design and manage drainage.
This is because in the eight years I’ve known Marita, the section of street in front of her house has always flooded at the merest hint of rain.
These doubts have not been quelled by the sight of this brand new playground near the Farnsworth Avenue, on Sunday morning. Granted the playground is not quite complete, but surely adequate drainage is not something that is added at the last minute?
Look! It’s Nessie!
At least there’s a life buoy. It might well be needed.
The plan for the house
I was chatting to a carpenter bloke about various things around the house, which helped solidify some of the ideas I’d been pondering for some time now. After years of inaction, I’m finally starting to move on them.
I’ve had the Attic Ladders people come in for a quote, and they’re now booked-in to install a ladder into the ceiling this Thursday. It’ll be in the front hallway. They’re also arranging for someone to cut up and take away the old water tank which is still up there, and to tidy up some of the old disused pipework which is preventing there being more usable space.
Then I’ll get the carpenter bloke back in, to look at what I originally called him for — to check and repair the ceiling at the front of the livingroom, which is drooping a bit.
Replacing the loose insulation with batts (which should be more effective, and less dusty) is on the agenda, and I’m pondering replacing the kitchen halogen down-lights (which I currently avoid using very much) with LEDs. Flat boards will go into the ceiling to create some storage space.
The 4-drawer filing cabinet in the back room will be replaced with a 3-drawer one (I’ve already consolidated/chucked-out a bunch of paperwork) in the ex-diningroom cum computer room, replacing an existing storage unit which also holds papers (as well as being a perch for the printer).
I’m pondering a small shelf unit along one wall of the laundry to accommodate the laundry basket with the toolbox, which is currently stored in the back room.
The gutter along the back porch will gain a second down-pipe. At present when it rains heavily, it overflows because it has a very slight drop to single existing down-pipe on the eastern side. That water then leaks through the back window.
Once the roof has storage space, and the leaking window issue is solved, that’ll allow me to clear out the back room, which should work as a bedroom for Jeremy, currently sharing with Isaac. It’s small, but will still be an upgrade.
That’s the plan so far.
(This is one of those posts I’ll probably look back on in a year and wonder why I never got past step 1.)
An offer likely to be ignored
This addressed flyer was slipped into the fence of this property, offering the householder a free exchange of their shower head to an efficient one, and a discount on a toilet upgrade.
The only problem is that in this case, there’s no toilet, no shower, no householder, and in fact… no house.
Water taps
I’ve seen these water taps in hospitals and airports.
It’s great that they’re provided, but the problem with them is you basically have to stick your head into the wall to get a drink out of them. So if you’re not very coordinated, you’ll probably bump it, as the space isn’t overly generous.
Surely they could provide just a little bit of space outwards — or upwards — to make it easier to use?
Using less water
My latest water bill arrived, and I’m feeling pretty smug about it because without even trying, my water consumption has dropped by about 20% compared to a year ago.
A few years ago household use had been around 250 litres per day. A switch to a water-efficient showerhead in 2007 saw it drop by about 20% to 200 litres per day, or 110 litres per person per day (taking into account the normal 13 “person nights” in the house per week).
This latest bill shows household use has dropped again to 165 litres per day, or 89 litres per person per day, not too far over half the “Target 155″ goal.
The only recent change I can think of is the new Bosch washing machine I got in November, replacing a 15 year-old Hoover. I don’t know how water-efficient the Hoover was, but it seems the Bosch (at 56 litres per wash, and with a larger capacity) beats it hands down.
I’m quite impressed.
(Update lunchtime: To be clear, the Hoover washing machine broke down, and had to be replaced.)
By the power of Greywater!
My rough estimate is that at home it takes about three litres of running the hot tap before the water actually gets hot.
One of my most commonly-used taps is in the laundry sink, which doubles as a sink for the back toilet. Being a laundry sink it’s big enough for a ten litre bucket, so I’ve put one in there.
Consequently that bucket is collecting an enormous amount of greywater for the garden — way more than the bucket in the shower collects, in fact. Hopefully it’ll help the back garden grass stay green… and get the (newly moved) lemon tree producing.
