Flow

At long last we've come up to Erin Mae for more than just a night. Earlier in the year we paid a couple of visits. The first was to get the systems back on after the winter, and the second was to relieve my nervousness about one or two things after a sizeable time away. But various events and obligations conspired to keep us in the south for an extra two months, so it's good to have been able finally to travel up yesterday with what's required for a longer stay – though we can't yet push off on an extended trip.

I've installed a new type of water filter cartridge under the sink, and have been astonished by how fast the water is running through it. Mind you, I'm very suspicious. The last time I got anything more than just a trickle from the tap's cold water position we found, at the end of the season, that it was because the cartridge hadn't been seated properly, and was letting water flow round it instead of through it. Somehow we'd survived a summer of drinking unfiltered water with no ill effects. So I've re-inserted the current one, trying to be very careful about its position – but it's actually very difficult to be sure, as you screw the holder into place, that the cartridge inside is exactly where it should be. Ah well, let's hope it's the drinking water that runs, and not our insides!

Less rapid has been the flow down the plughole in the bathroom basin. The drain pipe has an uncomplicated path to the outside, and we're pretty careful about what goes down it, so I've not a clue what was causing the blockage – and I don't really want to think about it! Filling the basin and using a towel to pump things out had no effect, so finally today I took a plunger to it, and that did the job. Normal flow restored!

Here's to everything else flowing in a reasonably smooth fashion over the next few months.