RL burblings

[linda_joyce]

On Wednesday morning I discovered that the flush was broken on my toilet. It's been a bit iffy for some time and considering it was installed in 1971 it wasn't doing to badly. Luckily we have a plumber in the family, he charges us less than he does his non related customers but he fits us in between his normal work. This means you have to be in the house for 2 days to have anything done. Wednesday I booked Thursday and Friday off and phoned him in the evening. His answer machine gave me another number to ring which was his mothers. I rang her and found that he had taken himself and his family off to warmer climes for Christmas and the New Year and won't be back until next week. So I'm back to my childhood again and filling a bucket to flush the toilet. The only difference between my bathroom and the Ty Bach is that at least I don't have to walk to the end of the garden now.

I am also back on the anti depressants again. I didn't go to have the prescription renewed when the repeats ran out, I wanted to see if I could do with out them. The answer was no though for the first couple of weeks I thought I might be able to.

I had a physio appointment on Friday afternoon so went down early and played on Bless this Chick, it won't work on my computer. So now I have an avatar from there too.

Comments

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

I don't have to walk to the end of the garden now.

And only those of us who grew up doing that really know how good indoor plumbing is. Do you remember lighting the tilly lamp under the cistern during the winter so it didn't freeze up? And going out in the morning to find it had gone out in the night and you had to come back for the bucket of water?

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

We never got a flush for the Ty Bach, the landlord didn't think it was necessary so we were carrying buckets right up until Mam and Dad bought the house and we got indoor plumbing. But oh boy do I remember the winter mornings getting dressed and putting on a coat to go to the loo.

I also remember one very stormy night my Gran being blown off her feet and into the rose garden. The only way we realised what had happened was the fact I could see where the lavvy was from my seat in the living room and saw her torch fly up into the air.
Ah the good old days.

[keltic-raven07.livejournal.com]

I hope the toilet gets fixed soon, it's amazing how we get used to modern conviences.

Hope Physio went well.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

His Mother said she would tell him as soon as he got back and she is very good at doing that.

Physio was short and sweet, Robert wasn't there so his sub asked how I was and was I still doing the exercises I said fine and yes and that was that. Next appointment is in 2 weeks times.

[keltic-raven07.livejournal.com]

Oh good!

Glad to hear Physio wasn't torture this time. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Hee; they have white wine now! Very cute.

I hope your loo's fixed soon. What does Ty Bach mean: little house? I ask because here, little holiday homes (very small and simple affairs) are called baches in the North Island and I thought maybe it comes from Welsh. In the South and Stewart Islands, they're cribs from the Scottish.

The neighbours' house is called 'Ty Bryn'; is that 'little mountain'? We are at the top of a hill.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Yes Ty is house and bach is the mutated form of fach used after vowels and fach means little. Bryn does mean hill or knoll. I had to check to be sure but I suspected it was as Brynmawr is a town on the slopes of the tallest mountain in Monmouthshire and mawr is the mutated form of the word fawr which means great or big. Isn't word usage a fascinating subject? It's hard to believe that a dying language(when New Zealand was being settled first) should spread so far and still retain something of its meaning. Ty bach started its life as a simple one roomed mountain hut where the shepherds lived during lambing and mutated into the name for the outside lavvy when the Industrial Revolution created large towns with out side lavvies. Something a little more complex where herds men spent the summer months with the cattle were called hafod fach.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah, so 'bach' is 'little', and the house next door is a 'hill house'.

Here's the definition of our bach:

bach — a small holiday home, usually near the beach, often with only one or two rooms and of simple construction. Pronounced "batch". (See also 'crib').

I can't find anything on the etymology, but I'm betting it's from 'ty bach'.