Is progress always good? Right now I would say, no.

So the idralico came to Maberga today.

The idralico put in them tubes I've been waiting for. Actually, it was just one tube, made of some space-age polymer that is guaranteed for 50 years, AND insulated against freezing. Here it is...



Lovely, no? No.

Trying to be optimistic and find the neon blue lining in every cloud, even in one that runs across my back yard, I keep telling myself, "cool! Never ending water with pressure."

So the idralico, and his father, attached this eye-sore from the main water tube to our house. Then they made sure that the boiler didn't leak and that the water actually ran into the house. Cool. All working well. Then they left.

Approximately 10 minutes after they left, I washed some dishes. I washed dishes in some high pressure sink water that had no insects in it. Very cool.

Then....

I turned off the water in the sink. Nope. The water just kept running after I turned the faucets off. We're not talking here about a drip. The water was gushing, with all that beautiful high pressure right through the kitchen sink...whilst the tap was closed.

Ring, ring.

"Augusto?"

"Ciao, Lina? Hai l'acqua?" (do you have the water?!)

"Yep, Augusto. I sure do!"

"bene. bene." (great)

"Yeah, but there's a little problem. It doesn't stop. The water is gushing from the kitchen sink, I can't get it to stop, AND now I have to pay for the water so I've got to make it stop."

"hmmm?"

"yeah. Can you tell the idralico?"

So the idralico calls and tells me he will be here first thing in the morning.

"so I should turn off the water at the main for tonight?"

"si. Se non vuoi pagare per tutta la acqua persa" (yeah. unless you want to pay for the water you are losing in the sink).

So after making dinner tonight, I went out to the garden hose ... which is now connected to the old water tube from the mountain spring. I filled the watering can several times to bring water into the kitchen sink to wash the dishes.

As I was filling the water jug for the third time I thought, "wow, this is really funny. It's like what it must have been like in the old days when one had to bring water inside from the pump to wash." Then I stopped laughing when I remembered that just a few hours ago I had running water INSIDE my house.

So, as I sit here wishing I could have a high pressure city water shower, or even a bug infested mountain spring green water bath, I'm thinking maybe I prefer the old technology.

Good news is, if I have to go several days without a shower, I have a new hat to hide my unwashed-hair...



On a completely unrelated note, I'd like to thank everyone for your kind words of support about my better-than-half success on this summer's projects. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy but, shucks, with you guys behind me, heck, I feel like I can be below average whenever I want. I love this blog.

I would also like to thank Lois for giving me this award. That's so very nice. Thank you.