Tuesday 12 July 2011

Chopping and stirring

I made soup and risotto tonight, two of my favourite soothing foods.  Soothing to make, that is, lots of chopping and stirring.  I'd made stock yesterday, so wanted to use it up.  I'm quite in the mood for cooking but, as I said yesterday,  the kitchen is too hot at this time of the year to spend very long in there.  I've promised to do some cooking for Weeza for the freezer (that rhyme was unintentional) so that she has some easy meals once the baby is born.  Only another five weeks before he is due, she's glad to have started maternity leave.  She can't quite believe now that she carried on until three weeks before her due date last time, and was working in London at the time, travelling from Islington to Belgravia every day.

One helpful thing she did before finishing work was to help us register our septic tanks.  This is a new thing brought in by the Environment Agency, we didn't know about it but she did, because the people she works for own a large country estate in Norfolk and there are a number of houses, none of them on mains drainage.  I suppose they are contacting larger landowners before those with only one or two tanks, but we have got it done early.  Our septic tank is brilliant, it just digests away and doesn't need any attention at all.  And the water we use, having been duly filtered and so on, returns to the ground and isn't wasted by being piped away.

7 comments:

Dave said...

At the moment I wish my kitchen was too hot to work in. 7 weeks without a boiler and I'm starting to feel quite cold at times.

Blue Witch said...

have you got a link for the septic tank thing please?

A few years ago now, the Environment Agency wrote to us saying that there was no longer a need for individual houses with individual tanks to be registered or monitored. I haven't heard anything at all about this latest apaprent change in policy...

Z said...

Here you are, three links -

Here's the stuff about registerig the sewage discharge: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Business/Summary_guidance_for_householders.pdf

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/water/122003.aspx Halfway down the page is a paragraph titled Important... under that is Start the Online Process - simpler than filling in an application form in paper.

http://gridreferencefinder.com/
To find out your national grid reference number

We have registered as being exempt from requiring an Environmental Permit, so there is no charge and no further action. It could be that you are already registered if you're in contact with the Environment Agency.

Just as well you were away for a couple of weeks, Dave. You're more patient than I am, I'd be into daily emails or phone calls to the landlord. Considering the troubles you had in your last parish with your house, the Methodist church doesn't seem to look after its tenants very well.

Christopher said...

I feel I have to warn you about passing horse traders, as witness this link:

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Decameron/Novel_2,_5

Four Dinners said...

You have to register septic tanks???

...well this one's called Cyril and this one's called Albert...

I'm getting this wrong aren't I...no change there then...

4D x

Z said...

It usually takes guests three days to stink, Chris. Few manage it on the first evening.

Sort of berth certificate, 4D.

Blue Witch said...

Thank you! I'll have to ring them or. Or ignore it until they contact me. I can't see any info there about the former scheme.

Maybe I'll await a letter, then return it with a copy of their previous correspondence... or maybe we were a pilot area. Who knows? I certainly think they don't!!!