There is an element of fun in every job that must be done - including drains. Moreover, my grandfather was big in drains. His father had a ginger beer bottle business by the
Thames. They diversified into clay pipes and were taken over by Doulton who forced them into bankruptcy. Somehow my grandfather and his brother ended up running an agency to sell spun concrete pipes made by Ellis Brothers. He patented a method of joining the pipes in freezing conditions and believed his fortune was made. That was in 1939. He spent the next 6 years travelling the country sorting out drainage issues for the MOD. Then he sold out to Redland and retired. He had a number of other business ventures and was quite a wealthy man when he died, but somewhere along the line all the money disappeared. It's not only money that goes down the drain. The reason that drains are laid to 1:40 is because this is the gradient that liquids and solids travel at the same speed thereby assisting each other's progress. Life was preferable before I knew this, but now I know it. And so do you.
