Rain, rain, go away

OK, so it rains almost everywhere and this won't be a post whining about it. (And anyone in Southern California, please keep quiet at this point. We don't want to hear about your fabulous weather. You're living on a fault line remember!)

Trouble is, in the States, where they do everything BIG, when it rains it absolutely lashes down. So much so that there are usually consequences. And yes, you've guessed it, I've been having quite a few of those consequences recently.

About a month ago we had the first torrential rain of the season. I may have blogged about the consequence then, but it's all a bit of a blur. The sewage leak, that is. Oh yes, 25 gallons of sewage water on my basement family room floor. (Thank god it's tiled (with a rug on top) rather than carpetted.) This flood would be because the City of Chicago planners, in their infinite wisdom, planted giant trees less than ten feet from the houses. Oh, and they planted them right above the sewage pipes, which being over 100 years old, are now completely clogged with the roots. Did it never occur to anyone that the roots would reach for water, even though it's nasty sewage water? Anyway, the roots in turn, cracked the pipes, allowing sewage to leak through the ground. Our basement is two feet lower than the one next door (where the leak seems to be), and Voila. Big, smelly leak.

And Chicago being Chicago, even though it's a city tree, which I'm not allowed to touch, I am required to clean up all the leaves and dispose of them (which does not include merely sweeping them into the gutter for the Streets and Sanitation cleaners to take care of. Oh no, apparently that's not allowed.) And even though the city tree roots have cracked the city sewage pipe, it's on my property so I have to see to it.

Hence the two Irishmen currently digging a giant hole in my front garden, to renew some of the sewage pipes that link to the main ones in the street. It being almost Halloween, I am thinking of buying a plastic sleleton and draping it by the side. I'm sure the neighbours think I've done away with the Ball and Chain, but he's really in New York.

And what does it do, now that I have a giant hole in the front? Rains for 24 hours straight of course. Thankfully, the basement is dry, but the Irishmen didn't cover the hole so now it has two feet of muddy water in it. (At this point I am tempted to make Irish jokes, but I will either end up with a brick through my window or sued for discriminatory blogging so I'll keep me trap shut). Hole full of water means that the City Inspector can't inspect their handiwork. Meaning that we have to make another appointment for him to come out, and pay for his time naturally. Aren't I quite the philanthropist for keeping so many people gainfully employed?

And finally, secure in the knowledge that my basement is warm and dry, I got the little guy up for school, opened his curtains, to find the window sill covered in water. His room is at the top of the house on the back, and it's a flat roof. A flat roof that is apparently leaking.......

Ho hum.

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