The view above is just two miles from our humble abode - looking over stone walls to Sheffield in the rolling landscape beyond. It was my farewell journey with Bertie, our trusty Seat Ibiza, and I was heading up to the reservoirs at Redmires which I blogged about a year ago here.
Redmires is where our domestic water comes from - a fact that I find quite comforting. Good Yorkshire water filtered by the moors, gathering in the three local reservoirs before further cleansing in the water treatment plant below and then into an intricate piping system and along to our house. Every mug of tea, every dishwasher cycle, every bath or shower, every pan full of potatoes - all that crystal clear liquid is from Redmires. Do you know where your water comes from?
Below you can see a giant plughole that drains water from a conduit down into the middle reservoir. Actually its technical name is a "bellmouth" which is a word I rather like but I wouldn't want to fall down there. To tell you the truth, I am surprised that it isn't fenced off and surrounded by warning signs. The Health and Safety stormtroopers must not have passed this way yet.
Let me explain the curious, delicately shaded picture below. It is of the top reservoir looking across to the dam but in the immediate foreground I have deliberately included Bertie's marine coloured roof. I think it makes for an interesting effect with the photograph being divided almost equally between sky, water and roof. Signed limited edition prints of this picture - "Bertie at Redmires" are available from Yorkshire Pudding Enterprises for only £99.99 plus postage and packing - just send me your full bank details, PIN numbers and all security passwords and I will be happy to do the rest.
That is a beautiful picture of earth, sky and Bertie. Did you set out to have the three almost identical colors in the photo or did it occur quite by accident?
ReplyDeleteNever in the states would you find a bellmouth like that just out in the open. In fact, there would probably be fences and guards and signs and warning bells for half mile around the thing!
We get beautiful, wonderful, tasty water from a well dug on our property which is 750 feet deep into the earth and rock. We are very careful to conserve as much of our natural resources as possible of course.
The picture was not accidental. I realised that possibility. How marvellous that you have your own water supply Mama Bear. 750 feet! Big Bear must have been very tired when he emerged from the hole with his pickaxe and shovel.
DeleteDear Mama Thyme .. I read your last blog post a few days ago .. it was in my Feedly queue under US blogs I read. Your words .. "I just feel I have nothing interesting or enlightening to say to you ... My life is so mundane to all but me, I think sometimes".
DeleteMama Thyme, what you had to say WAS interesting to read because it was different to my life here in Far North Queensland. I appreciate the fact that because of technology I was able to read your stories and visit your part of the world that I will never get to see or experience. Thank you for those stories. I will treasure them in my Feedly queue.
Beautiful shots YP although I must say that I too find that 'plug hole' quite scary. Hope you enjoy the new car.
ReplyDeleteIt has got electric windows and parking sensors and a bluetooth facilty so that you can talk on your mobile phone without holding it...but I don't have a mobile phone. However, 24 hours in and I am very happy with the car.
DeleteWhat a wonderful lasting memory you'll have to treasure of Bertie's last journey.
ReplyDelete99.99 plus all personal details - do the fraud squad know about you YP?
Why do you think I use a pseudonym CG?
DeleteHere on Tamborine Mountain our water comes from the clouds above and from the mountain acquifer. Some properties depend solely upon rain, but, fortunately, this property on which my cabin sits and I sit in said cabin, we have a bore. Therefore, rain and the acquifer service the water tank, and then our needs.
ReplyDeleteYou have a bore? Is that The Landlord or Paul de Jersey?
DeleteMy lips are sealed!!!!
DeleteOh, I know where my water comes from and it's not as good as where your water comes from.
ReplyDeleteDon't keep it secret Red! Is it flown in from Toronto?
DeleteWe get between 60-80" of rain per year, yet our low-flow well flows even lower during the driest months of summer & Fall. We enjoy the abundance of it in the wetter months and cherish each drop in the dry times. It is, however, clean & pure on this hilltop paradise!
ReplyDeleteThat bellmouth hole is creepy....
If you come to England Little Squirrel we shall put our swimming costumes on and swim around the bellmouth - seeing how close we can get. How wonderful that you have your own water source. No processing or additives. Wonderful.
DeleteEveryone knows where water comes from Silly. It comes out of the tap...
ReplyDeleteWell done Bertie, for the part you played in bringing the English countryside to our screens.
I particularly like the stone fence photo from your last journey.
Ms Soup
Here in Merry Olde England fences are still made from wood. On the other hand, walls are made from stone. Glad to be of service ma'am.
DeleteThank you Ms Soup - I didn't want to have to be the first to point out that water comes from a tap. You'd think everyone would know that, wouldn't you? Sometimes YP does ask some daft questions !
ReplyDeleteYOU ARE WINDING ME UP! I MEANT, WHERE DOES THE WATER COME FROM BEFORE IT GETS TO YOUR TAP! GRRRRRRRRRR!
DeleteBye-bye, Bertie!
ReplyDeleteFrom your reply to a comment above, I gather you are happy with the new car.
Ludwigsburg's main water supply is Lake Constance. We have rivers (the Neckar being the closest), but they are used for transport mainly. Especially the Neckar used to be heavily polluted, to the point people saying that you could easily commit suicide by having a sip from it, and very little fish surviving. It was all cleared up and new laws introduced in the late 1970s and early 80s, and the river has recovered wonderfully since then.
Perhaps you could test the purity of the Neckar's water these days by drinking some of it. I dare you! In fact I double dare you!
DeleteOne of the beautiful things about the Hebrides is our water: pure and plentiful. In fact sometimes too plentiful.
ReplyDeleteSo I guess there's no mystery about where Eagleton water come from. You just stick a bucket out of the back door and wait two minutes.
DeleteI have no idea where my water comes from. Do we still drink from the Thames? Heaven forfend. Anyway, I love your imaginative photo featuring Bertie's roof but rather than paying £99.99 I think I'll just steal this digital version. :)
ReplyDeleteMy lawyer will be in touch...
Delete