Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Over the years we have unashamedly pointed out the natural tendency for, eh hem, let’s call it... delay here in our corner of paradise. You may remember stories like 'how long does it take to send a fax?' and 'how long does it take to change a light bulb in Boca Chica?' In the former case most of the day and in the latter over a year, were the answers. In our story this time the finger of mockery shamingly points directly back to ourselves. For the sake of continuity let us ask the same kind of question as before: How long does it take to correctly install a water pump? Well, in this particular case give or take a few months about eight years, actually!
So much time has elapsed that the intricate details of the story test the memory banks considerably, since one of the first technical decisions we ever made all those eight years ago when we were re-constructing and remodeling the hurricane George- damaged property that was to become Playa Vista, was to purchase a water pump. Reason being that such a piece of machinery is quite standard here for the purposes of augmenting the domestic water supply.
With the object of the exercise being to pump water from our underground water tank in the event of cessation of supplies from the water company CAASD, or to merely boost the pressure if it should fail, our pump was indeed connected up to the pipe work, but before it was all regulated and automated somebody or some bodies hopped over the wall one night and separated the pump from its tubing and thereby from us by absconding with it! We soon bought a replacement and saw this not only connected, but this time inside its own securer protective locked hut. Unfortunately this idyllic phase lasted not much longer because the electrician had failed to put in any surge protector and the over-zealous electric company sent a powerfully erratic supply of electricity one day which entirely burnt the pump out! We moved on to pump number three but by now our own enthusiasm for this particular project, perhaps understandably, was waning. Pump number three was installed, but the complexity of the pipe work, perhaps in harness with the incompetency of the electrician/plumber, distracted our attention to other more pressing matters at the time. Our recollections lead us to believe that we never actually had the new bigger pump pushing water successfully through our entire system at any time back in those days.
Anyway, just a mere eight years later we stepped smartly up to the plate, reactivated our dear eight-year-old new pump and bingo... we now have water at a consistent pressure absolutely any time we want!
Why now you could reasonably ask? The avid Playa Vista blog readers among you will recall the recent sorry story (June 26th) of pumping machinery theft from the water company on a grand scale in our little community that left not only Playa Vista but the rest of Boca Chica with significant water shortages calling directly on the need for our internal action. So, it really does go to prove the old saying that there is a silver lining in every eight-year-old cloud!
Posted by Playa Vista @ 09:24 AM CST
Sunday, August 19, 2007
All we can really say is, "Poor old Jamaica!"
After several weeks of, incredibly an almost complete absence of tropical storm activity in the Caribbean, Hurricane Dean came barreling by yesterday directly on its way to Jamaica. The center of the storm passed 250 miles to the south, thank goodness, because the storm surge we experienced would indicate that if it had been any closer we would be looking at a disaster area this morning.
The Playa Vista terraza proved yet again what a wonderful vantage point we have for overlooking the Boca Chica beach and Caribbean horizon because we all had a great time yesterday cheering as each successive wave beat against the terrace wall. The sea water went as far as licking the bar top with one particularly high smashing wave and apart form soaking good old "weather-watcher" Richard we were fortunate in avoiding any material damage whatsoever.
Here we present a few timely shots of the occasion!
Posted by Playa Vista @ 07:21 PM CST
