Cecil is woken by Ma and Pa; ‘It’s raining son”!!

I’m blessed to live on top. On top of the catchment that is. Of course I’m on top in a lot of other areas too, but as my dear friend tells me that is an accident of birth. Funny, that. She says that most rich people made their very best decision before they were born: they chose their parents well. I digress. Emphatically this is not a political post.

So here I am on top of the catchment. Only the rain that falls on my land runs through my land. This is important. The water on my land is mine. MINE. I owe nothing to anyone else. This really is my water. (Now, before you start sniggering, I mean it is my water as in potable water, not my water in any other sense.)

Cecil’s front gate.

How Cecil uses his water.

It has been a long dry spell, and as with all dry spells it is broken by rain. The most glorious rain. Started on Thursday. Continues as I write. Not, mind you, the torrential downpour of the East Coast and Tasmania, but solid rain never-the-less. I look out and see water flowing down the grassy gully. The near dam is full. This is good, for once this dam overflows the main dam – Lake, (with artificial island) – starts to fill. It is a matter of some prestige to have a ‘lake’ with an island. For some months my island was not actually an island. There were people I could not invite to my home as a result of this; a home without an island is definitely not a castle. Perhaps, come tomorrow, I shall be able to issue invitations to those dear and true friends. I’ve made it known that I am ‘Not at Home’ through those last few dry months. The embarrassment of having no island would have been too much to bare.

In fact it is now tomorrow and my Island is restored. I give thanks and and go off to work in much the way Robert Drewe’s ‘The Drowner’ character, Will Dance, did whilst still in England. I blocked the water flow in the gully and diverted it through a complex system of channels to my upper dam, the one behind the house, the one I use to water my extensive garden and lawns. (I’m considering a moat, yet am not sure that it would provide the protection I need.) When the upper dam is full I can then guide the overflow into my last and largest dam on the other side of the saddle, and once that is full I believe my life will revert to its placid, self satisfied blissful state.

‘I was told very early that a secure water supply and a full wood heap makes for a happy wife’.

Firstly, once I’ve got that dam full I can call the wife and tell her to come home. I was told very early that a secure water supply and a full wood heap makes for a happy wife. Time will tell.

Secondly, and this part pleases me no end, I shall be able to help my fellow man. This is a responsibility taught me by my father. It is onerous, yet now that I have my dams full to capacity, I shall be able to let some water run off my property to those lower down. I only hope that they can use it responsibly too. Maybe I’ll call in and offer my sage advice.

‘Life is so good when you are on top and can support your fellow man through the wonderful and proven trickle down effect’.

Life is so good when you are on top and can support your fellow man through the wonderful and proven trickle down effect.