Friday, October 17, 2008

Our Water Rates At Work

A week or so ago, a truck from the local water agency, the S.I.E.P.A. (Syndicat Intercommunal d'Eau Potable et Assainissement), stopped in front of our house. Two guys got out and opened up the fire hydrant, purged it, flushed it, and reclosed it.

Water Service truck.

It's nice to know that they service these things from time to time. I don't recall ever seeing that happen where I lived in the US. Of course, back there, I worked all day and probably wasn't home when things like that took place.

Hard at work.

A few days later, a smaller truck came by and another guy got out. He stood around having a smoke, then he got his paint can out and proceeded to put a new coat of paint on the hydrant. I grabbed the camera and went to the kitchen window to sneak a few shots of him working.

Our shiny, newly painted hydrant.

8 comments:

  1. It is amazing how the smallest details can catch our attention when we have the time to slow down and notice.

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  2. And I thought "water rates" was a particularly British term...

    It's interesting how French utilities use detailed titles and acronyms, while the UK equivalents are either blunt ("Thames Water") or they've gone in for commercialised "branding" under various fancily meaningless names.

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  3. Preventative maintenance. Imagine that.

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  4. He would get into trouble here in Melbourne, Australia for the "flushing" at the moment. We are in a bad drought situation and our dams are 30% full. Not good and its only October and no rain!

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  5. dan, that's for sure.

    autolycus, I think you're right about "rates." I think I've watched too many British tv shows over the last few years.

    chris, I know... what a concept, eh?

    lady jicky, I understand. I used to live in California during drought times (which is more often than not).

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  6. I am amused that 1) you were sneaking about taking photos of this bloke; and 2) that he is wearing latex gloves.

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  7. You would never see that here in the UK...that would be a miracle!

    Our councils have a problem fixing paths (sidewalks) etc..and it takes at least 3 men..ha ha

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  8. a serious francophile once said to me, it has its terrible faults, but society in france works. i wonder if this is an example of that.

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