This article is more than 1 year old
Reg hack uncovers perfect antidote to internet
A profound, earth-moving experience
So far so good. Bring on the second length of tube:
Moving with panther-like speed before the pit walls collapsed, we threw in a load more stone to surround the first two tube sections...
...then mounted the final tube section before sticking plastic sheeting on top of the stone fill:
Said stone fill acts as an external "reservoir" into which water can flow freely, while the plastic sheet stops backfill soil leaching down. Reg reader well experts are welcome to take issue with Ramon's methodology here, but he's the bloke who's dug more of these than you can shake a divining rod at.
With the Sun having passed the yardarm, all that remained was to fill the hole...
...tidy up a bit...
...and lay some concrete as a base for the brickwork which will eventually finish the job and prevent dogs/children/distracted journalists from plunging head-first into the abyss:
All in all, a profound, earth-moving experience, and the perfect antidote to the internet. Six hours of hard graft, heavy machinery, concrete tubes and stone followed by, naturally, lashings and lashings of ice-cold beer. Cheers. ®
Bootnote
I'm extremely chuffed to report that after a couple of days, the well had two metres of water in it - an impressive result in the middle of a serious drought.