The Pits

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Crude oil well

 Yesterday was the pits. At least that was what the email I received implied.  

"I shall be arriving at 10 am to start digging trial pits," wrote the contamination expert. I'm not sure quite what I was expecting; some kind of lunar landscape interspersed with deep craters perhaps. Oh well if we haven't been able to get away and fly to the moon or indeed anywhere, creating the effect in your back garden might just have the same impact and without all the hassle of airport check-ins.

In the end, however, the work was far less intrusive. Fear the worst and hope for the best they say.  Directly attributable to a month or more of detection work by Mister E and me, as well as too much time spent on hands and knees sniffing in strange corners, I'm pleased to say that we were able to direct the expert and his shovel to within a couple of feet of striking oil. It wasn't quite a spout bursting from the core of the earth but, drilling down and scraping away, he found the trickle that's at the heart of our problem.

It's a beginning not the end but for the first time in two very long months I feel able to breathe freely again. The retirement path, like the rest of life, isn't always smooth but it's how you cope with the pitfalls that matters. Obviously we'd rather not have this issue but on a positive note we do now know part of what we are contending with and are confident that, with the assistance of the loss adjusters and contamination specialists, a remediation strategy can be implemented.

(Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay)

 

Comments

Treaders said…
Strangely enough I was just thinking about you and your water contamination yesterday, wondering how you were getting on. It sounds so much more positive than when you last wrote about it so here's hoping it'll soon be sorted (without too much intrusion/mess)!
25 August 2023 at 09:17
Jennyff said…
Just catching up with your problem, which must have been a worry. I am not sure how the contamination actually got into your supply pipe, I would have thought that would be completely sealed for obvious reasons. Hope it’s all resolved soon and you don’t need a public enquiry on the cause, they could take years and cost millions.
7 September 2023 at 08:14
Caree Risover said…
Crazy isn’t it but it’s now well established that polyethylene used for water supply pipes because it’s flexible as well as durable is susceptible to leaching when it comes into prolonged contact with kerosene. We’ll be replacing with what’s known as barrier pipe (coiled metal inner) but for the moment are awaiting digging out to identify the full extent of the problem which fortunately the insurance company has confirmed our policy covers.
7 September 2023 at 12:04
Christie Hawkes said…
Good luck Caree! Life does indeed throw us some unexpected curve balls. My mother used to say, "If it's not one thing, it's a dozen." I hope this one turns out to be an easier fix than originally feared.
9 September 2023 at 19:06
Caree Risover said…
Thanks Christie. Unfortunately it looks as though it could be harder than we had hoped but that's for another blog entry and it is what it is.
12 September 2023 at 22:58
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