Waterless (Briefly)

My town will be putting a new water main on my street. A preliminary step was to run pipes from the  fire hydrants and hoses from the pipes to each house, enabling them to shut off the water from the original main. So now our water comes through a hose which is hooked up to an outdoor spigot.

Yesterday, the people from the lawn sprinkler company came to activate the sprinkler system — turn it on and test the four zones to make sure the sprinkler heads were working properly. When they started testing the second zone, there was a loud knocking sound, and the water stopped flowing — not only to the sprinkler system, but to the whole house. The sprinkler technicians couldn't figure out how to restart it and suggested I call the Water Department.

A notice I had recently received from the private company which had been hired to do the work on the water main gave a telephone number to call if there was no water to the house. I called and presently a man arrived. (He looked just like the 30-something pastor of the Evangelical church in town.) He did some checking and decided that the problem lay somewhere between the outdoor spigot and the shut-off valve in the cellar, which could be used to shut down the spigot for the winter.

After poking at the spigot for a bit. he reattached the hose and asked if there was another spigot he could attach the hose to. There is, and he checked that out. It was very stiff, and after opening it, he couldn't shut it completely. It kept dripping. But at some point while he had it open, the water started gushing out. Whatever he had done to the first spigot had fixed the problem. He found the interior shut-off valve in the cellar for the second spigot and was able to stop the drip. He noted that both spigots were very old (Maybe they are original equipment from when the house was built in the late 1930's.) and he suggested that when the water main project is finished, I get a plumber to replace them.

So overall, I was waterless for maybe two hours, and the sprinkler people and I think it would br foolish to try to use the automatic sprinkler system until the work on the water main in finished. Meanwhile, to keep the grass green, I'll need to set out and move sprinklers by hand. It's not a bad thing to have to do, especially since I'm around most of the day anyway, but it's been several years since I had to do it.

Longing on PEI

My mother's mother, the youngest of ten siblings, came with two of her sisters from the family farm on Prince Edward Island to Massachusetts some time around 1900. My mother visited the farm and relatives there several times as a girl. She remembered it fondly and would say that we should visit sometime, but we never actually did so. She did, however exchange Christmas cards with a cousin there until her increasing dementia ended the exchange a few years before she died.

A few days before my mother's death, a letter arrived for her from a daughter of the other cousin on the island. It asked my mother to share any memories of her visits as well as any information which might help the writer track down the descendants of the other sisters who had come with my grandmother. We couldn't give any information my second cousin had requested, but the family was reconnected, and my brothers, sister-in-law,  nephew, and I visited the island that summer and met the relatives: two cousins of my mother and their spouses, our second cousins, and several of their children.

In the course of our visit, we took a guided walking tour of downtown Charlottetown, the capital. The guide, a college age man, was in 19th century costume, and I found him quite attractive. The following year, my brother, sister-in-law, and I returned. She had arranged to give an organ concert in Charlottetown and another in Tignish about two hours away. After the first concert they went to Tignish to prepare for the concert there. I didn't need to go with them, and I decided to stay in Charlottetown and take another of the walking tours which were offered.

To my delight, the guide happened to be the one from a year earlier. It also turned out that I was the only person signed up for the tour. So in addition to the tour, the guide also gave some information about himself. His name was John — I've forgotten his last name — and he lived in one of the suburbs of Charlottetown. He said that he and the other guides stayed in the Delta hotel during the season, and he told me several times that they gathered every evening in the lounge of the hotel. It seemed clear to me that in effect he was inviting, encouraging, me to join the group there. I told him that I had to join my family members in Tignish that evening.

I would have liked to see him that evening. Of course, my imagination developed a scenario in which I fantasized that after a couple of drinks he would invite me to his room, and make advances toward me. I would refuse to engage in sex, but there would be innocent displays of affection. Certainly there we would exchange contact information, and we would stay in touch. None of that could actually happen because of my family commitment, but I definitely wished it were possible to get to know him better and to develop a friendship. We have had no contact since then, and I wonder how he has done in the dozen or more years since those encounters. I hope all is well.

I wonder if he had known that I would be the only participant on the tour that afternoon and if he had arranged to be the guide for that reason. The guides used to get tips, and a tour with only one tourist would not have been very desirable. I can imagine that it could have been cancelled because of insufficient participation, but it wasn't. Maybe he had noticed my interest in him on the earlier tour (I took several pics of sites with him in them)  and somehow learned my name. Or maybe it was pure coincidence that he drew the assignment. Of course, I had signed up for it because the area to be covered  — the Lieutenant Governor's Mansion and the area between there and the edge of downtown — was of interest, and I'd have enjoyed it in a group or with a different guide, but being alone with him made it even more enjoyable.

Some people might consider this sad because of what didn't happen. On the other hand, the actual experience was pleasant, and it is an instance of chance encounters being able to produce good results. There was nothing lasting, like what came from a chance encounter in Rothenburg, but it was good while it lasted.

Some Guys

Here are links to pics of some of the guys I like to see on the stage when I go to Boston. (I'm being deliberately vague about the name of the organization because I don't want them noticing this post, but you'll find out if you click the links.)

http://www.bso.org/g-m/michael-winter.aspx

http://www.bso.org/a-f/clint-foreman.aspx

http://www.bso.org/g-m/james-markey-bass-trombone.aspx

http://www.bso.org/t-z/wesley-collins.aspx

http://www.bso.org/a-f/daniel-bauch.aspx