The thermonuclear device and the banshee scream.

A strong Saharan wind blows all day.100 km/h gusts. The soil turned to clay, the standard roses bent at alarming angles. Time to switch on the irrigation system. I push the switch. The blue contraption in the basement, which looks like a thermonuclear device but is in fact a water pump, emits a banshee scream. Seconds later the cast iron pipe that draws the water up from the well cracks. The sudden surge of pressure sending a jet of water ten metres into the air. Quite spectacular in the way that only expensive household disasters can be.  Bob and Sophie certainly think so. They rush in and out of the plume of water like toddlers at a funfair. That irrepressible ' isn't this fun ? ' sense of adventure. Toweled dry they both sleep for an hour. 

The plumber says he'll be along in the next week or so. '' Can you give me a rough indication of when that might be ? " I ask.  ' Non ' comes the reply.

Here's an interesting dog article from yesterdays WP.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-dogs-play-researchers-see-honesty-and-deceit-perhaps-something-like-morality/2014/05/19/d8367214-ccb3-11e3-95f7-7ecdde72d2ea_story.html?wpisrc=nl_hdln