I don't like Mondays

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

Or so it seems round here these days... I'm still not used to being able to smell the water as I raise my glass - it's just not right! Our water used to be so nice once upon a time, a long, long time ago, in some fairy story called 'normal life'. Now it's tainted, treated with smelly but necessary chemicals, just in case.

And it was strange, yesterday, to read of the water restrictions that are to start this weekend. Strange, because it was teeming down with rain (as it had all day on Monday as well), and the start of water restrictions always used to mean that we were in the grips of a drought. Not these days though, now it's because normal spring/summer water usage would overwhelm our fragile infrastructure. These water restrictions are probably going to be in place until February, and the message seems to be that if we don't behave ourselves and stick within our allocated water budget, a total outdoor watering ban will be imposed.



Not that I'm much of a gardener... I mean, I like looking at other people's gardens but to be honest, mine's seen better days ;)

And, as a mere tenant, there's only so much I'm going to do about prettifying this place... all going to plan, we'll be back on our own street, in a new house, next year anyway.

So, back to those watering rules... and I guess these apply to anyone who is under the CCC's jurisdiction...
1) Nobody likes Mondays, not even the Jones's (no watering at all)
2) Evenly-numbered homes get to water on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays
3) Oddly-numbered homes can water on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays
4) No unattended hoses or garden irrigation systems
5) No sprinklers

...nothing but watering cans and hand-held hosing for you this summer, you irresponsible gardeners. If you want your garden to be blooming marvellous this season, you better be prepared to put the hours in, holding that spraying/sprinkling/watering device at all times - on the appropriate days, of course.

And you can kiss goodbye to that classic local summer pastime - running through the sprinkler on a day that's been baked dry by a hot Canterbury Nor'wester.

Has anyone else noticed that people have stopped saying 'the new normal' these days? It's as though the abnormal became normalised somehow. It's unsettling, it's jarring, and it's most definitely not normal. But it's about as close as it gets I suppose.

Life carries on... I reached the last page of a course reader this evening, preparing for the last lecture before next week's presentation round (to be followed by the essay-finishing mission). Even if this one was a virtual book, that never left my screen, it still made a satisfying (if imaginary) 'thump' as it was closed.

Something random to end the evening... or perhaps not...

See, even Sir Bob Geldof still doesn't like Mondays :)