Competa news blog

Having acquired my little piece of paradise in the mountains, I started to think about what to do next.  It was tempting to just potter around and do nothing but look after the olive and fig trees on the property and make it look pretty outside.   More practical, though, I had to at least make the place more habitable!  I had sort of fixed the water but there was the matter of the sewage so I found a man who was good at digging pits...and had a good reputation for installing septic tanks.  It meant a long run of pipe down the mountain from the "bathroom" but it worked.  The pit was dug and designed to be bacterial - ie no bleaches etc. down the loo or sinks (once they were installed!).  It was a great job - I only had to have it emptied once in the 16 years I had the house and that was only because it was fully tenanted for a year.

Anyway, the toilet, wash basin and kitchen sink were installed as well as improvements to the shower.  Although we now had hot running water (and didn't have to boil the kettle) the shower needed "attention".  My solution was to rip it out and start again - a tactic I used often as the years went by!  Bliss - we could go to the toilet without the hassle of having to empty the chemical loo - neither myself nor my then partner liked that very much.  And then there was the time it leaked in the car.... yeuch!