My lovely Christmas task was to unblock the cottage sewer pipe, which was causing a non-flush backup problem at the loo. It is an old private system dumping the waste in what I suppose is called a cess pit - ie a covered hole in the ground from which it slowly seeps away, heaven knows where.
It turned out the blockage was half way along the straight run, at a point where two sections of pottery pipe are mortared together. The cause was a wedged bottle of shampoo, almost certainly dating from my elderly mother's recent occupation.
It was unresponsive to rodding. as the rod simply pushed it out of the way, allowing it to wedge again later.
The only solution was to dig a hole, smash an entry into the pipe, and then carefully line the gash with bent plastic and cover in mortar. Breaking through of course released the accumulated waste into the hole, which was already filling with mud from torrential rain.
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