digitalronin

Our water is back ... for now.

Just got these texts from Thames Water: > We are aware that there is a problem in your area and you may have no water or low pressure. We're really sorry,our team are in your area now > We are aware of a burst water main in your area. Our team are carrying out urgent repairs and will get your water supply back to normal as quickly as possible.

To report this, call 0800 316 9800 Their website is rubbish, and if you try to use the "report a problem" button it just ends up giving you that number! I just called. Apparently there was a burst 5 inch main last night, which they fixed around 1am, but then something else went wrong (probably another burst), so they had to shut the water off again at 6:40am They can sign you up to get SMS alerts as things develop, if you want them. There's no ETA for a fix yet. I asked about emergency supplies, but they only do that if the outage lasts more than 12 hours. I have no idea whether more people reporting it will make them fix it any quicker or not.

We're near the corner of Goodrich Road and Lordship Lane, and our water stopped about 5 minutes ago. Hopefully they're just turning sections of the supply off and on while they fix the problem, but who knows?

I tweeted at them. They've fixed that particular problem now. I have no idea if those two facts are related, but either way the embarrassment is public, if anyone cares.

They know;

woodstock Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ... it seems that the Thames Water site is having problems - the map of > incidents won't load. Digging into their web page a bit, I can see this error under the hood; > You have exceeded your daily request quota for this API. We recommend enabling billing to get a higher quota: > In other words Thames Water, for their public, customer-facing live problems website, are relying on the free quota that google offer for using their maps service on your website. This is what you do when you have a little hobby website. To see a supposedly professional utility company doing this tells you a lot about their level of competence...or not.

Interesting. Could you provide a pointer to the camera you bought? Unfortunately, I think the legal issue might be a problem. If I mount a camera such that it can't see out of my front garden then a) it wouldn't get the number plate of the van, which I think would be the most useful thing for the police, and b) the angle I would have to put it at means all it would see would be the tops of the thieves heads! Still, it would be interesting to look into the idea. David

@Rook, please report the theft - it's looking like this is a bigger issue, so the police might take an interest if they get enough incident reports. David

@Norfolkvillas, it's definitely worth reporting it, if you didn't at the time; https://online.met.police.uk/ If the police see a pattern, they might be more inclined to put some resources into prevention/investigation. David

Thanks, Molly, that's a good idea. If we end up replacing the plants, we'll definitely do something along those lines. It's just really unpleasant to put time and money into making the place look nice, only to have some mean-spirited people spoil it again. David

Hi All We had three potted olive trees and a potted bay tree stolen from our front garden last night - Landcroft Road, up near the Plough end. Must have been at least two guys and a vehicle - each of the trees is too heavy for a single person to carry. There isn't a lot we could have done to prevent it - it's just really unpleasant. Anyway, I just thought I'd mention this in case other people in the area experienced similar thefts last night or recently. It could just be a single incident, but I'm curious whether there's more to it than that. David

Ok, so we're here in the CPT. So where's everybody else?

You might be thinking of this, but I'm not sure if it's available yet; http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/verizon-mifi-personal-wi-fi-coming-this-month/ Failing that (or even if you can get one), I'd suggest getting a mobile broadband dongle and then getting a Yoigo prepaid SIM card in Spain. ISTR they have a very reasonable data package. Here are a few articles about it; http://prepaid-wireless-internet-access.wetpaint.com/page/Spain+-+Yoigo http://wirelessfederation.com/news/15474-yoigo-expands-mobile-internet-service-to-prepaid-subscribers-spain/ http://wapreview.com/blog/?p=294 I haven't tried this myself yet, but I'm planning on it the next time I go to Spain. All the best David

We're just heading out now. See you folks soon.