• Pages

  • Special Places to Stay
  • - South Africa
  • - France
  • Special Places to Eat
  • - South Africa
  • - France

• Property Rentals

  • France
  • South Africa
  • - Knysna

• Recent Articles

  • Simply Provence
  • Mutts of Provence
  • Simply Provence
  • Simply Provence
  • The Mystery of the Dolmen
  • It’s all too Beautiful
  • Simply Provence
  • Simply (Springtime) Provence
  • Mutts of Provence
  • Domaine de Valdition – a New World Cellar Door in the Old World

• Archives

  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008

• Search

SDEI/Suez is the French water utility for our part of the world – the Luberon Valley in Provence.

Anyone who has lived in the Northern Hemisphere for the last few weeks or watches the TV, knows that Europe is blanketed in snow and freezing temperatures. The ice and the snow has a knock-on effect into the infrastructure – not only primary ones such as airports, roads, postal services etc, but domestic ones such as the basic provision of water. Water cannot flow through frozen pipes and causes havoc when it freezes.

So it was that Madame was under heavy sedation at the Clinique St Roch and YT was sitting by the bedside. The iphone beeped and an email from our renters – ‘nothing to worry about but just to let you know that we have no water!’ Catastrophe!

Our friends Casey and Jen had just phoned and asked if there was anything they could do to help …..they both speak excellent French…… Casey jumped on the phone to SDEI.

French Customer Service kicks in: “There are over 1,000 homes without water. Either use a hairdryer or wait for the weather to warm up (that would be conservatively a fortnight!).

A pragmatic solution, or a crazy fob-off, you ask. I jumped into the Touran and came home, armed myself with Madame’s bright pink hairdryer and dug into the undergrowth to find the manhole and the two water meters.

The dip in the boundary bushes marks the spot under which is our water manhole and meters

This pic does not need a caption

10 minutes of the dryer on full blast – water!!

An addendum to this story is that over the past 10 days we have used the hairdryer a further three times, and, one fears, will need to do so again.

SDEI’s customer service may not be out of the Best-of-Breed training manuals but it sure is practical!

Comments

• Blog Roll

  • 2 Oceans Vibe - what the kids are reading!
  • 2Oceansvibe Radio - South Africa’s premier internet radio station – great tunes, good banter and setting the pace
  • Crikey - what they don’t publish in Oz
  • Dan Retief - The one rugby journalist you can rely on to talk sense – Dan knows the game!
  • Getaway Guru - Great travel site with many hints and tips
  • Noseweek - news you’re not supposed to know
  • Popyacollar - A leading edge look at fashions and trends
  • Provence Villa Rental - the ultimate property rental in France
  • Thought Leadership Strategy – Craig Badings - Craig is one of Australia’s leading PR practitioners. His views on Thought Leadership and Strategy are always worth reading
  • Wrestling Possums - The doyen of PR, Chris Savage, gives this site his unique brand of incisiveness. A must read if you’re interested in communications.

• Other Links