Spoiled by Water

There’s nothing like going without running water in the house to remind a person how much we modern humans take for granted. Or to remind me, at least. The water line to our house busted over the weekend, so much of the last few days has involved me digging a really big hole (to access the water pipes) and then filling said hole when the job was completed. I was assisted by another neighbor who wandered over with a small back hoe, and a kind city utility guy who advised us about how best to line things up. If not for the digging and the reassurance from the other gentleman so that we continued digging, I would have been at it for far longer. My faith in humanity went up several notches, because neither man was under any obligation to donate so much time.

The actual repair took our plumber just a little over an hour, but if he’d had to dig that hole the cost would have been over a thousand dollars… and the job would have been delayed, because he didn’t have time in his schedule to dig such a hole, but had time to swing in and replace pipe.

Out here in the country we aren’t in easy walking distance of other water sources (except, of course, for the Sea of Monsters, and there’s always the danger of getting dragged in by a tentacle if you get too close). Our nearest neighbor was away, but fortunately some old friends live only a ten minute drive off. We took over a couple of big coolers (and they loaned us another) and the buckets our horses drink out of, and filled ’em all up. We ate out rather than cooking and getting more dishes dirty. We washed from basins that we filled via recycled two liter bottles filled from those coolers.

We got by, but it was easy to see things would get old, fast. By yesterday evening we had running water again, which now strikes me as an incredible luxury. I wonder how long before I start taking it for granted again? In any case, I’m out some time, and my back’s a little sore, but I’m ready to start the day with some writing. I sincerely hope that you’re own weekend was far less eventful.

Now for something completely different. Here’s a sneak peek at the first chapter of Scott Lynch’s third Gentleman Bastards novel, Republic of Thieves. He likely needs no extra help promoting this book, for hundreds of thousands of readers across the world have been eagerly awaiting its release. But I’m going to promote it anyway, owing to the facts that I found the advance version brilliant and that Sir Lynch is just a cool dude. Via Gollancz, here’s the first chapter of Republic of Thieves.