Problems with water and weather

The problems these days in Salluit are pretty basic. The weather, the lack of water and surplus of sewage dominates our lives here... or mine. If the weather is bad the trucks that we depend upon for sewage removal ( the most imp) amd to bring us water can't work. If the sewage tank in my house gets full, the water shuts off. I do have lots of interesting smells.

It is difficult to do anything in the house without water. Over the long Easter weekend we had no services for 4 days. Then yesterday when services should have resumed we had an ice storm . I did not have services until late into the evening. All day I was thinking I would go home and be able to wash myself, my dishes and cook a proper meal. It was a bit disappointing to go into the house at 5 pm and see the tank lights were on..

I lost water Sunday at noon. That is not unusual ... it happens most weekends. The problem with that is that I knew I would not get services until Tuesday. That is a long time not to flush a toilet, have a shower , do a good teeth cleaning, wash vegetables, wash dishes and generally clean up the house. It makes cooking, and by extension, entertaining almost impossible. It does make for lots of exercise as each time I had to use a toilet I walked to school. Thank-God it is only 300 steps.

It is difficult not to let these type of living get you down. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a bit of a shower freak. I am not exactly squeaky clean but I do love my showers. I do like a tidy house. I don't like to exercise much but not being able to have a shower meant I wasn't going to exercise at all. I was smelly enough. It is a bit of a trial.

And it is a problem for the entire village. I'd like to say that I was having the worst time but those with families have a more difficult time. Youngsters create lots of laundry and they do need baths. Heaven forbid that someone was sick and need the sheets changed several times. In some of the houses there are 20 plus people. How do they do it? How does it make them feel not to be able to bathe? to cook? to live with piles of dirty dishes? What an easter when you have to think about every drop of water you use!

Last night we had yet another blizzard. I sleep with my window open. I woke up at 4 am to see the room full of swirling snow. I thought my white hair was in my eyes . I am sure that we won't get services again today. The road up the hill is too steep for the sewage trucks if there is ice on the road. I am so glad that I did not go nuts last night washing everything in sight once I had services.

We have had more blizzards in April than we had all winter. The last day we were at school before Easter I got caught out in a blizzaard. I had gone to help out at the lunch for the kids. It was windy when I went to Marc's kitchen but an hour later when it was time to go back to school it was a white out. I tried walking two steps and knew I'd never make it in the storm. Marc drove me back home ( school was cancelled) and that was a scary ride. We could not see a thing. I was terrified a truck would hit us, or we'd hit a ski-doo or a child . It was a terrible ride... just terrible. Talk about being on the edge of my seat.

Right now it looks OK out. We had a huge snowfall last night and with the winds there are lots of drifts to wade thru. And this is bloody April! I had my cute little Gap down coat on the past few days but today I am back to that huge ugly lime green coat. I was even wearing lined soft leather gloves. I am now back to my big seal skin mitts. Cute is gone !
I must go do my outside duty now. What a thrill. I hope some of you are feeling sorry for me as I feel so sorry for myself.