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Following on from a previous post, I'm after some advice on a drainage issue we're currently suffering. I've knocked up the below plan to try and help explain things:
(Downpipes are in blue, as is the land drain in front of the garages. The land drain discharges into the green below-ground line, which connects below-ground to the neighbour's rear left-hand downpipe.)
Over the last few months we've found that the land drain backs up in heavy rain, backing up out of the green outlet, and flooding the carport and garage. It's evidently a mixture of foul waste and rainwater, as the floodwater leaves fatty deposits and smells of laundry/dishwater.
We've had Homeserve out, who promptly declared it not their problem as it's a shared drain. They recommended we call out Anglian Water.
Anglian water were very interested in it, as the evidence suggested that someone somewhere was illegally discharging foul waste into the rainwater system. They've been out a few times, not managed to ascertain where the water from the land drain goes once it hits the neighbour's downpipe, and have now given up. Their working theory is that the land drain goes nowhere, as does the neighbour's downpipe, and the whole setup is one big U-bend. They've also declared it not their problem, and have recommended I get my buildings insurer involved.
The house was built in about 2010 (first sale is registered with HMLR as being 20/04/2011) and AW say that they have not adopted the rainwater system to the rear.
Their argument seems like total BS (the foul waste has to be coming from somewhere, and it's not magicking itself out of the downpipe to which they claim the land drain is connected) and, even if AW aren't responsible for the pipework at my end of proceedings, surely the fact that the illegal discharge will be ending up in their system at whichever point the private pipes meet the public rainwater system should be enough for them to take an interest?
Similarly, their investigations found that the gulleys into which the front downpipes discharge were also full of foul/fatty water, so it seems like a more widespread issue.
AW have left it with me to investigate, and have advised that they will gladly pick up the baton again if my investigation shows that the issue is with an AW asset.
Are they correct at this point, in that I'm now very much on my own and at the mercy of my insurer? Or does it seem like they have declared the investigation as being too much like hard work, and are hoping that I (and hopefully my insurer) will be able to move the investigation along for them?
If it's the latter, is there anything else I should know or be aware of? We've ascertained that the foul waste isn't being discharged from my property, so it'll likely be coming from a neighbour further down the line somewhere.
Any recommendations as to where I might be able to watch the Birmingham game in Berlin? I'm hoping there might be better odds than usual, given that there's no EPL/Bundesliga at that point, and it seems to be one of the better matches on in that time slot (blue-tinted specs notwithstanding...).
As I've mentioned before, I'm a surveyor, so I spend most of my days in other people's homes.
I'm constantly surprised by the number of baseball bats, iron bars, and other implements I see propped up beside people's beds. It's never occurred to me that I might want something heavy and swingable close to hand should something go bump in the night.
Is this a thing? Or do I just come across a greater than average number of wrong-uns?
Does anyone have any experience of guided tours of India?
Mrs Zx and I are looking at doing a tour later this year, and the Golden Triangle tours which involve safaris at Ranthambore seem of most interest to us. I've managed to find two that look to be of interest:
The former is a little pricier, includes fewer stops (being a round trip), but does include more meals and UK transfers at either end, whilst the latter is cheaper, has more stops (being Delhi to Udaipur), but has fewer included meals, and we'd need to sort our own UK transfers.
Has anyone done anything like this before? Any recommendations, or particularly reputable operators that you'd recommend?
Assuming the club looks elsewhere at the end of the season, when the Umbro/Castore deal expires. I assume that will mean the end of the Umbro retro range as well?
Select the counties that host a team playing in the EPL or football league. The only caveat is that the quiz is from 2017, so you can ignore Wrexham for example.
Otherwise it seems fairly in keeping with standard footballing knowledge. I managed 39/41.
Looks a semi-decent offering - it seems that they've twigged that, without the add-ons, the membership is all but worthless if you don't already have a ton of away points.
A little late to the party, but I just stumbled across the German version of Band Aid/USA for Africa on YouTube, as it was broadcast during the general Live Aid broadcast:
It's worth watching just for Udo Lindenberg reading the statement on behalf of the artists (subtitled). Bloody hell. They really didn't pull any punches, did they?!
Struggling to see the legitimacy of the findings here, especially given that the son was merely narrating the documentary, and the father/Hamas had no input to the contents of the script.
Owen Jones' reporting of a letter signed by BBC staff, accusing the Corporation of running PR for Israel seems particularly apt in this context:
Any word on whether, now PL sponsorship rules no longer apply, the back-of-shirt sponsorship will be given back to The Foundation, or another worthy cause?
Interesting story from today's cricket - Wiaan Mulder declared for SA against Zimbabwe, despite being on 367*, and with a very strong chance of eclipsing Brian Lara's 400* record:
It seems to me to be the right thing to do; a record like that against a team such as Zimbabwe would always have a massive asterisk next to it, and it very much feels like the 'spirit of cricket' thing to do.
(apologies, Phil, if this isn't forum-appropriate)
Has anyone used DHGate and can recommend some good-quality sellers? Having seen some of the efforts with snide Town shirts last season (wrong shade of blue; yellow instead of gold) I get the feeling quality may vary! I also assume that there are some decent sellers there, but their quality probably blends in with the rest.
I wouldn't get Town shirts from there, BTW, I just want to get a few other shirts without having to take out a small mortgage.
We bought Chateau Zx about two years ago; built in about 2011 by David Wilson Homes, we're the second owners.
One of our drains is backing up under heavy rain, so I got Homeserve out tonight who spent about 30s on site, said 'not our problem, call Anglian Water', and promptly naffed back off.
Upon calling Anglian Water, they feel that we might have an illegal drainage connection from our washing machine to the rainwater system - they're sending someone out tomorrow to check and, if it does turn out to be as suspected, I'll be responsible for fixing the issue (my irony meter broke at this point...).
Has anyone else encountered this sort of thing before? I assume, fourteen years and a change of ownership later, there's no point going after the developer who built the house incorrectly in the first place and, as a latent defect, one assumes that neither the Homeserve insurance or our buildings cover will foot the bill either.
Having my front tyres changed today and, given the somewhat uneven wear, I'm pretty sure that the alignment/tracking is going to need looking at.
Having always declined this in the past, should I just get the firm that does the tyres to do it at the same time? Or will I get a better deal by going away and booking elsewhere?
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