h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I still have electricity this morning but no water. I think I have enough to last a few days if I don't make too much tea And by then I'll be back at work and able to bring some home from there, as long as there were no burst pipes there either. I'll have to be very parsimonious with flushing. As in, I have one cistern-full, then it's gone.

Yeah... I used my one flush this morning.

I just rinsed my hands in the cistern after kneading some bread dough. I didn't think about that at all until I'd started mixing it together with my fingers.

New email from the office: "The water is currently off due to multiple broken pipes. We are waiting for a plumber to come out and repair the pipes. As there are hundreds of broken pipes throughout the city, there will be a delay in receiving plumbing services, but we are in the queue."

I suspect a lot of people didn't heed the office's advice to leave their cabinet doors open if they're on an outside wall, as is the case with my kitchen. My pipes haven't burst because I did, and it got down to the low 40s in the apartment yesterday afternoon.

If it comes to it, I'm going (look away now if you're eating) to take me ease using a plastic bag, tie it up and throw it in the dumpster.

I'm considering bringing a 5 gallon bucket to work with me tomorrow. Yeah, I'll definitely do that.

Also any empty jugs I have for more drinking water.

I'm sure there is no bottled water available at any of the local stores by now.

This is getting bad. Like a hurricane without all the debris.

I'm back to work on Friday and I'll also get some water to bring home, assuming there is some. If there isn't, there's not much point in going in given that what we make is essentially value-added water, and we need a phenomenal amount for cleaning. Not sure how much I'll be able to carry home on the bus each day, mind you. Definitely not a 5-gallon tub. I've been baking and cooking today, and it's not until you try doing that without running water that you realise how often you turn the tap on to rinse something. I'm also going to have a monumental pile of washing up to do when it comes back on.

I recently watched a video that convinced me that dish washing machines actually do save water and you actually do not need to rinse dishes before putting them in, even if they sit for a few days. The focus of the video was on how those new fangled detergent packs are actually bad since they don't add any detergent to the prewash cycle. Most dishwashers had that little extra measuring container for prewash. It's not like they provide mini packets to stick in there. No detergent in the prewash means ineffective prewash, more gunk in your filter, and less effective cleaning during main wash since the water contains more filth.

I don't have a dishwasher, but I bought one for my mother a few years ago.

I don't think I've ever used my dishwasher to wash dishes since I split up with Mrs Gosho and moved into my own apartment. It's just a draining board and the place where I keep my plates, knives, forks, spoons, bowls. Every once in a while I run it with a little bleach in the water to keep it clean. After I've taken everything out, of course.

Oh, wait. This is the water conversation isn't it.

Austin is under a boil water notice now because water pressure has dropped as a result of all the burst pipes. Texas requires water suppliers to boil water if the pressure drops below a certain point. It's affecting hospitals now, particularly those who use a boiler to heat the building. Some are having to move patients out.

I recently saw a commercial for a new Dawn dish detergent aimed at people like me that wash dishes as they're used (mostly). It sprays a foam on the dish so you don't use as much water. That looked like a great idea.

Then it occurred to me this is the dish detergent version of those foaming hand soap dispensers. You're paying more for diluted soap with an aerating nozzle, that's all it is. In the commercial you can see the model using 2-3 sprays per dish. I imagine that bottle won't last as long as the small bottles of dish soap I normally get that last... well, I don't know because I can't remember when I last needed to buy one. I typically only use a few drops for as many dishes as I need to wash, even a sink full. So what you might save in water usage will be well more than made up for in excess plastic.

At this point it makes sense to list the places in Texas that AREN'T issuing boil water notices.

Many years ago a chemistry student friend told me that you only need a small amount of detergent, far less than the manufacturers put in theirs, so ever since then I've diluted it to around 20-30% in a second bottle, because we *really* don't need to have our dishes "squeaky clean".

My background is photography, old fashioned chemical photography. When developing prints or film, the very last step; after development, stop-bath, and fixer; is simply a water bath to remove residual fixer. To prevent water spots, a product called Photoflo™ is added. The recommended amount is one small capful... to a running water bath. It's simply a surfactant, the main quality of dish soap. It makes bubbles. (By greatly reducing surface tension.) One capful is really way too much. I found this out when a cheeky photo student poured an entire bottle in a fountain near the Communications building. A bottle was only about 4 ounces and it made suds for days.

Those two smileys go really well together.

There was a fountain in the main shopping centre of the town where I grew up. You could pretty much guarantee that every Saturday someone would pour a box of laundry powder or a bottle of washing up liquid into it.

Don't use laundry powder or dishwasher detergent. They don't suds up.

They did did back then. More suds was a selling point. There were many many bubbles, whatever it was.

It wasn't just round here then.
We used to walk home from the pub on a Friday or Saturday to regularly find Wimbledon broadway under feet of foam, from the water feature by centre court shopping centre.
Presumably one of the local Oiks had popped into safeway and "obtained" a bottle of washing up liquid.

The water thingy only lasted a couple of years, then it turned into a planter.

Excerpt from yesterday's email update from the complex.

"Portable toilets were delivered and set up around our community this morning for resident use. They have been placed near the following buildings: 3, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16. We hope this provides a bit of relief for residents unable to flush toilets."

"provides a bit of relief"

site dunny's all round then.

The question is will the neighbors treat these with consideration for others, or like the port-O-potties at a county fair or renaissance festival?