Commentary by Kyle Cowan
Newcastillians awoke to a very special treat on Monday morning.
Mud baths.
In more ‘developed’ countries, women pay premium to go to spas and health centres where they can lounge around in ‘healthy’ mud baths. It does wonders for the skin apparently.
But here in Newcastle, residents pay nothing for the treatment. Simply open a tap and Bob’s your uncle, muddy brown liquid spills forth from the faucet, delightfully burbling down the drain.
The cause is easy enough to pinpoint. A large water pipe was connected on Sunday, leaving many households cut off for almost 10 hours.
It might seem like a petty complaint, but one resident summed up the attitude of the town nicely with a comment on social media.
‘We live in the 21st century; have they still not figured out a way to change pipes without polluting the water?” read the comment.
Five Cent Piece doubts this person has ever had to change a water pipe the size of those joined by the municipality this weekend, but the fact remains: We pay a pretty penny for clean water and a bit of righteous anger is understandable.
It boils down to the simple fact that yes, we are indeed in the 21st century, but there are many problems bigger than muddy water we still haven’t managed to solve.
People still die every day for no apparent reason. Cars collide inexplicably, massive buildings fail, sophisticated software bugs out. Things happen that are beyond the control of a man wearing a hard hat to solve or prevent.
While it is rather irritating to have to shower in water that is suspiciously sandy, it’s probably not the worst thing that could happen on a Monday morning.
