‘I’d been dreading this happening for a while. Nobody had dug up the grey-water pit for 20 years’
Last summer, as temperatures around the world exceeded the limits of human endurance and wildfires wiped out Canada’s forests, the kitchen sink backed up. As disasters went, ours was insignificant, but the house no longer functioned. Dishes couldn’t be washed, showers couldn’t be taken, laundry couldn’t be done. Repeat visits from the plumber failed to get things moving. I’d been dreading this happening for a while. Nobody had dug up the grey-water pit for 20 years.
This time, my parents long gone, I planned to hire someone to do the job. Strangely, no one wanted it, or if they did, couldn’t start for weeks. My brothers consulted but showed no enthusiasm for rolling up their sleeves. Happily, my partner offered to help. Born and raised in inner-city Glasgow, he was unfamiliar with the concept of a grey-water pit, but he has a strong stomach.
We worked slowly, to avoid strained backs and shoulders, heat strokes, heart attacks. I dug in early mornings before the day heated up, filling and dumping bucket after bucket of bone-dry soil. It hadn’t rained in weeks. It wasn’t pleasurable, but it was calming, meditative even. The planet’s systems were breaking down, but there was a chance we could fix this small domestic one with sweat, perseverance and old knowledge.
Next morning we pried up the van door. The concrete vault below didn’t smell. It was dry. Or not quite – when I lowered myself in, I sank to my calves in the black gunk familiar from the old grease trap. At this point it was less liquid than gelatinous.Down in the pit again, balancing on a couple of planks, I braced myself for the point of the exercise: unplugging the drainpipe. All doubts rushed back. The plumber was sure the line had collapsed.
Nodelphi Noastack Pit House Time Water Bucket Digging Partner Summer Kingston VW Glasgow
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