From Late Latin annuālis

[threemonkeys]

Today was the day I did my annual clean of the drain at the back of my house. This is the open channel that diverts water from the hillside, around the side of the house and into the drainage pipes that connect to the storm water system. Accompanying the work are a set of, what can only be described as, recurring revelations:

• that cleaning drains not long after sustained heavy rain tends to be a very wet and muddy business
• that it would probably have been more sensible to have done this last week before the really heavy rain
• that it would have been more sensible to have deferred doing a laundry run on my gardening clothes until after this task
• that water prefers to run downhill and that rises along the course of the drain are not very helpful
• that after many hours of hard labour, you always come back inside for a break to find that less than an hour has passed
• that annual means every year, not every 3 years which is how long since this was last done
• that if you don't do this work that water will find its own way down - through the lawn in this case
• that I am going to have to spend more time on this job tomorrow because it is too big for one day