A Story from Sydney

Have you ever seen an out of order sign on a toilet door and asked what that really means? Did the last person to go in the bathroom and take the toilet a part and put it back together in the wrong order just for a laugh? Or was the toilet taken to court as a witness and got sent out for not following the formal rules in order? Of course, in reality the toilet simply doesn’t work, most likely from being blocked or leaking, although on a rare occasion it may actually be in pieces. It is highly improbable that a toilet would ever be more than evidence in a court case.

I grew up in a house with one bathroom that included the only toilet in the entire three bedroom house that was home to six people, four of them being children. We lived with this situation for twelve years to be exact before we moved, for unrelated-to-the-lavatory-reasons supposedly… And yet, with that move came a second toilet, things were looking up! No more waiting in line for that sweet release, and the risks of a possible urine infection had dropped significantly.

Moving forward a bit into the future and the first lockdown of 2020 hits! And suddenly that magical second toilet springs a leak… not so magical after all. The usual pristine, dry and shiny bathroom floor drips with moisture, there is a stench and a growing puddle of effluent!

It was a mess, a stinking, smelly, soppy mess! However, it was a mess that was easily fixed, one phone call and a plumber came to the rescue with the obligatory fee, naturally.

A small hop, skip, and jump into the future and the first lockdown comes to an end and in Australia things are getting better or back to “business as usual” as is the normative phrasing, at least covid wise…

One final hop, skip, and jump into the future, or what in this case is the present and we’re slammed back into lockdown! And what should happen? Not one but both toilets fail! The first toilet has a case of the leaky pipes, casing the clean toilet water to drip, drip, drip constantly forming a puddle on the bathroom floor which grew after each consecutive flush…

Now as to the second toilet. Prior to the current lockdown we’d brought some new toilet paper, as a special treat, the real expensive Three Ply shit! THREE PLY! No more of that single ply crap! Not for this family. However three ply toilet paper tends to pack a punch, especially when the plumbing is on the rather fragile side of things… needless to say the second toilet got blocked and it was not an easy fix. It was so backed up, grabbing the nearest plunger and some good old fashion elbow grease did next to nothing.

However, the pipes of first toilet were an easy fix, and no longer leak. The plumber after fixing the first toilet attempted to unblock the second toilet without much luck and as you read this it remains out of order, plumbing fees are no joke.

As I am on the topic of toilet paper I thought I would talk a bit about another thing that happened over the course of lockdowns that turned into a disturbing pattern that is linked to my personal plumbing issues by at least a ply or lack thereof…

I am, of course, talking about the epidemic of panic buying, specifically The Toilet Paper Panic!
Heading to the shops would seem to be a very mundane errand that may involve anywhere from hourly, daily, weekly to monthly trips in order to stock up the home. The humble toilet paper packet, found lining the aisles in shops and supermarkets around the world, a household staple was soon to become the rarest and most sort after item in every store.

Australian shops desperately striped the aisles bare, down to the very last single ply in a mad dash! Charging in urgently like a pipe about to burst, onward and upward, in a race to be the first one to get to the loo after an extended road trip. Yet, there wasn’t a square to spare!

They incited brawls over packets and shops resorted to enforcing limits, of one square per person (not really, it was one packet) in order to stem the tide. Though, of course, the shoppers were resourceful and packed second and sometimes third disguises, I mean outfits to pull of quick changes and go back in as someone else for more (of course no one did that, or did they… you’ll never know). Some travelled in pairs or groups to hit up more shops and double their takings (I neither deny or confirm this fact). There are countless stories, articles, news reports about this new phenomenon.

It was panic and pandemonium, chaos in its purest form!

The reason for this panic buying was that the lockdowns were causing the shops to close, when in fact grocery stores, especially in large supermarkets didn’t close and as you read this they still remain open. Being essential services they were never going to close (as we were all told multiple times). This, of course, makes them prime targets for covid exposer sites. Many were mentioned on the list of exposer sites and yet remained open for business.

In addition to panic buying covid also expanded two industries. The first being hand sanitizers and the second being face masks. Both can now be found in nearly all stores from grocers to gift shops, lining whole aisles or just at the end and simply hanging on a rack. They come in all colours, styles and shapes and sizes.

Hand sanitizers were the first defence utilized to combat the rising tide of covid. In addition to social distancing both inside and outside, the big push to increase (what would seem rather obvious) the washing of hands, particularly after sneezing and going to the toilet, and the ban on hand shaking and other long standing greetings involving physical touching.

Not only are hand sanitizers available for purchase in the multitudes, but you can find them at the entrance to every available public space and in order to enter it is vital for public health and safety to squirt and rub some onto your hands. And it will be just at that moment that you realise you have a small cut where you lease expected it…

Thus, it comes as no surprise that masks on faces have proliferated in shops and public spaces from the surgical and fabric, to the industrial gas/chemical,/dust and plastic face sheets. Yet, the rate of infection whether spreading via droplets or air borne seemed to be continually increasing…

The masking of mouth and nose never seemed more important, considering that every breath you take the seemingly innocent air that you just sucked in has already been previously breathed in and out by somebody else. It will get shared around from lung to lung, with every human and animal in your nearest vicinity. The available fresh air appears to be on the decline especial indoors where the volume of necessary fresh air within a confined space per person per hour has been measured to between six and ten cubic meters!

With an excess of free time what better way to get a lung full of fresh air than exercising out of doors? Don’t forget to bring a mask for close encounters of the human kind. And if thinking of increasing the volume of fresh air, you can always plant a tree or two!

I will now return to the infrastructure, on which I began this post and blog, the sewerage. I recently came across an excellent podcast A Tale of Obelisks and Sewers by Alistair and Jed the team of Stories from Sydney: History of the Harbour City. That takes listeners on a deep dive into the history of Sydney’s sewers which coincides with colonisation (upon the “discovery” of fresh water being the deciding factor in white settlement sites) and the history of democracy within Sydney. The Hyde Park Obelisk, Sydney’s only sandstone sewer vent is mentioned, having played a key role in the sewerage system, although now it is regulated to venting storm water.

Sydney’s other sewer vents and the newer style of sewerage systems that allow for pumping up hill, rather than gravity feed are also mentioned, along with many more exciting facts about sewage! A must listen. They have a wonderful historical map from 1877, of Sydney’s original tank stream sewerage system, as well as a photo of the Hyde Park Obelisk on their instagram @storiesfromsydney.

They mention my vent trips from this blog, along with two key sources for their podcast, the first being an excellent PhD Thesis, From Pipe Dreams to Tunnel Vision by Sharon Beder in 1989 at the University of NSW. The second is @stukhan the twitter of water engineer Stuart Khan that has a great map of the original 18 sewage pumping stations from the original sewage system, in addition to other interesting water and sewage facts. I plan once lockdown is over to visit each of the 18 original sewerage pumping stations as I continue my exploration of Sydney’s Sewerage and hpe you’ll follow this blog along for the journey.
Stay tuned.

I want to congratulate you for making it through this blog post it was a long one, so you deserve an applause. Thank you for reading and I hope your keeping safe and healthy during these difficult times.

A Tour

The date: Sunday 6th October
The time: 2:00 – 5:00 pm
The event: Vent Spotting Field Tour
The place: The intersection of Elizabeth and Bathurst Streets, Hyde Park, Sydney

The Field Tour began on Gadigal land, at the site of the intersection of Elizabeth and Bathurst Streets, Hyde Park. The site is the location of the Hyde Park Obelisk, Sydney’s first civic monument erected in 1857 to honour the Mayor of the time, George Thornton, and is the first vent stack chimney of Sydney’s first sewer system. The Obelisk, nicknamed Thornton’s scent bottle is property of Sydney Water and served as sewerage duct vent, allowing noxious gases to escape from the sewer (now days it severs the storm water system). It is the only sewer vent constructed of sandstone. Initially, after the Obelisk, vent shafts were constructed using bricks, ornate and fairly major features in the city landscape. This technology was replaced with smaller, steel tube vents, which were used at intervals of approximately every 350 metres of sewer.

The Field Tour turned down Elizabeth Street, heading away from the Obelisk, towards Park Street.  As we walked along Park Street towards William Street we pasted the first above ground Ladies lavatories constructed in 1910 on the corner of Elizabeth and Park Streets. In 1955, the Ladies lavatories considered a failure was replaced by the Hyde Park Family Centre but it too was considered a failure and it was deconstructed in 2000 replaced with humble grass.

On the intersection of William and Bourke Streets was the second sewer vent of the tour. This vent was not so grand and it was head to foot green, it was located behind a building in a fenced off, almost empty concrete space. The top of this vent was rotating continuously, unlike the more common wire ball design of the vent shaft opening cover. We then crossed from the right side of William Street, to the left and turned right onto the other side of Bourke Street where our route continued. This half of Bourke Street we spotted approximately five to six small sewer vents. We then took a slight detour, turning into Burton Street and onto Sherbrooke Street (a dead end) to see a vent before retracing our steps back onto Bourke Street and continuing on.

Bourke Street turns into Forbes Street but right at the transference where the Streets intersect with Foley Street there is a Square known as Taylor Square. In the center of Taylor Square sits Substaion 6, part underground men’s conveniences constructed in 1904 and part electric substation constructed in 1907. In 1938 After much debate (and petitioning) Council modified the southern end of the existing Substation to accommodate “suitable” women’s conveniences. This was not the first public toilets for women in Sydney (located in Hyde Park) but this was the first in Taylor Square, 55 years after the first male public urinals in Taylor Square.

The opposite end of Taylor Square is bordered by Oxford Street, the Field tour continued down Oxford Street, in the direction of Liverpool Street, heading back towards Hyde Park. A vent was spotted on the right side of Crown Street, we detoured to get a closer look before retracing our steps back onto Oxford Street, the next leg of the Field Tour was down the opposite side of Crown Street. We spotted one vent on the intersection of Crown and Burton Streets, turning left onto Burton St and after walking five metres or so we spotted one more.

The final leg of the Field Tour culminated with walking from Burton Street to Oxford Street onto Liverpool Street and crossing to the corner of Hyde Park from which, when looking into Wentworth Avenue the final vent of the Field Tour was spotted.

The Making of Soap

The first soap was duck fat with lye and I don’t remember if duck fat smell particularly bad or at all but what I do remember is that it took a long time to start reacting with the lye (over an hour)! While melting it was a pale off white and when reacting it changed to white and the texture was silky smooth.

Second soap, this time a combination of lard or pig fat and lye, I did a quick internet search when deciding on the ingredients for making soaps and lard was reputed to have a pleasant bacon scent when melting. Ha! Not only did it not smell pleasant, it was vile! The lard smelt like burnt, off meat scraps and that smell remained the same the entire time that the soap was being made. While melting it was a pale, creamy yellow and when reacting it was had changed to white. Again the texture was silky and the reaction was slow but it worked.

Third soap a mixture of different oils; palm oil, cotton seed oil, flaxseed oil, wheat germ oil and lye. This soap was the only pleasant scent, faint and sweet, like a distant pine forest scent. While melting it was a rich orange-gold colour, whilst reacting it gradually changed to an almost caramel cream colour. The texture was again silky but while reacting it got bubbly, I think because I was stirring too fast? This was one of two soaps that had to be made twice, the first time it wasn’t mixed long enough for the reaction to be finished. Once in the mould the oils hand sank to the bottom and the lye to the surface, it had separated!

The fourth soap, tallow or cow fat and lye, was the second soap that had to be made twice for the same reason (it wasn’t mixed long enough for the reaction to be finished). The first time it was made the react was taking a long time but the second time the reaction was quick (almost didn’t get it in the mould in time!), the annoying thing is, I couldn’t remember what I’d done differently that improved the results! While melting the tallow was a pale off white, once reacting with the lye it changed to a paper white. The texture was creamy. This soap had two scents to it, one while the fat was melting a foul, burnt meat smell (like the lard) and another while the lye was reacting with the fat, off milk (gross)! Needless to say milk was off my menu.

The fifth and final soap, was made from old farmed emu oil we had lying around the house (hard to say exactly how old, but a few decades at the very least) and lye. Much like the duck fat, emu fat didn’t have much of an unpleasant or of any scent. When melted it was crystal clear and when mixing with the lye, the liquid mixture turned off-white and had a grainy texture to it. Once in the mould, like the oil mixture and the tallow, it looked as though the lye had once more risen to the top but it was only an illusion of the grainy texture of the soap.

I’ve found through trial and error that the best first step in soap making, once you’ve decided on your fat or oil or mixture and weighted the amount(s), you want is to melt it until it is clear. Second step is to measure out the amount of lye or your choice of caustic and mix it with the right amount of water (more water is ok, more caustic not so much (try to remember this, it’s kind of important to not confuse those two)….

Soapy Recipes

Ingredients
100g lard
13.8g lye
50g water

Steps
1. melt the lard
2. whilst stirring the water pour in the lye
3. once the lard is clear, whilst stirring pour the combined lye and water into the lard
4. continue to stir until thickened and leaves a trace on the spoon/stirrer, it is now time to pour into the mould

Ingredients
100g tallow
14g lye
50g water

Steps
1. melt the tallow
2. whilst stirring the water pour in the lye
3. once the tallow is clear, whilst stirring pour the combined lye and water into the tallow
4. continue to stir until thickened and leaves a trace on the spoon/stirrer, it is now time to pour into the mould

Ingredients
100g emu fat
13.8g lye
50g water

Steps
1. melt the emu fat
2. whilst stirring the water pour in the lye
3. once the emu fat is clear, whilst stirring pour the combined lye and water into the emu fat
4. continue to stir until thickened and leaves a trace on the spoon/stirrer, it is now time to pour into the mould

Ingredients
100g duck fat
13.5g lye
50g water

Steps
1. melt the duck fat
2. whilst stirring the water pour in the lye
3. once the duck fat is clear, whilst stirring pour the combined lye and water into the duck fat
4. continue to stir until thickened and leaves a trace on the spoon/stirrer, it is now time to pour into the mould

Ingredients
3.525g palm oil
3.425g cotton seed oil
3.4g flaxseed oil
3.25g wheat germ oil
13.6g lye
50g water

Steps
1. melt the oils (palm oil, cotton seed oil, flaxseed oil & wheat germ oil)
2. whilst stirring the water pour in the lye
3. once the oils are clear, whilst stirring pour the combined lye and water in with the oils
4. continue to stir until thickened and leaves a trace on the spoon/stirrer, it is now time to pour into the mould

wash scrub rinse

How are things flowing in your apartment?

Thinking about sewage and the infrastructure that transports it once its flushed, or poured away down a drain got me thinking about the processes involved in managing the multiple and constant flows of raw sewage that travel from homes that are varying in size and style with any number of drains and for that matter toilets, and can be a one story house with one toilet or a high rise apartment building with numerous homes and their various toilets enclosed within.

I did some searching and came across a few PDFs:

• ANALYSIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN 8 UNIT APARTMENT BUILDING
• Part 4 Designing the building
• Planning Guidelines for Water Supply and Sewerage
• Building & Plumbing handbook

ANALYSIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN 8 UNIT APARTMENT BUILDING by Byron Antine, Jr. was written in 2011, an American source, only mentions sewage twice in the entire ten chapter PDF. The first time in Site & Property Description a paragraph on the Impact Fees that the construction faces for sewer tap-in. Then once more in Development Issues, just to say that the local Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requires the submission of a 537 Sewer Planning Module, documentation of where the sewage will flow to be treated and consequently release. Though no mention of how exactly the sewerage is setup in an eight unit apartment, but then it is more of a proposal for the building than a step by step how to guide.

Part 4 Designing the building, a twenty two chapter PDF broken into three sections. The first Amenity focuses on the interior, on maximising natural light, ventilation and the optimal spacial design of an apartment, and reducing the noise pollution. The second Configuration focuses on the exterior design. The third Performance is on the management of the energy, water, waste and maintenance of the building. The chapter waste does not actually talk about sewage (only rubbish) in fact in the whole PDF is sewage free! When talking about the designing of rooms for maximum space, the bathrooms are not mentioned….

Planning Guidelines for Water Supply and Sewerage, an eleven chapter PDF, loaded with jargon! Essentially it is a step by step planning guide, loaded with flow charts and tables that list of all the risk factors involved and what you need to consider when planning water supply and sewerage. Again no mention of how it is done.

Building & Plumbing handbook a fifteen chapter PDF. Talks about connection points and flow control with illustrations but only of a one story house. It does not elaborate into the workings of how an apartment is connected and flows from multiple vertical drains are controlled. Only that is is the developers and builders are responsible for establishing the location of sewer connection points prior to starting any works, to ensure that the building (house or apartment) is located in the correct position!

I wasn’t able to find the exact process, but I will continue to search and update this when I am successful.

Tour To The Great Big Fart Towers of Sydney

The date: Sunday 6th October
The time: 2:00 – 5:00 pm
The event: Vent Spotting Field Tour
The place: The intersection of Elizabeth and Bathurst Streets, Hyde Park, Sydney

This Field Tour is a collaborative workshop in exploring the sewerage infrastructure at large within the city (or more accurately under it). A tour to key spots of Sydney’s sewer system, we meet at the Hyde Park Obelisk Sewer Vent (Elizabeth and Bathurst Streets) and walk via William Street to Taylor Square on Oxford Street.

I would like to invite you to take part in creating a space in which walking allows us to create connections to place through sensory inquiry, conversation, telling stories and the spotting of vents; a space where walking can be productive of more than physical exercise. There is no wrong way to contribute, you can tell a story, share your sewage facts, spot vents or simply be there and every contribution is appreciated.

As a token of appreciation for your generosity in helping to make this happen, I will be giving each participant a zine to commemorate the event.

serves anywhere from a town to a country

ingredients

• one acre or more of land
• planting machinery
• planting tools
• irrigation system
• seeds to mature into vegetables
• roundup weed killer
• pesticide sprays
• chemical fertilizers
• salad bowl

Steps 1
divide the land into sections and sow the seeds

Step 2
water, prune and spray the plants with a healthy dosing of weed killer, pesticides and fertilizers as they grow

Step 3
once ripped picked the chemical soaked vegetables and without washing cut, cook and lay out the salad

Step 4
add extra dosing of pesticide, fertilizer and/or weed killer to taste, as required

What is a wet wipe you ask? Why it’s the latest invention (c. 1957), convenient on the go washing in a wipe! Saves you time, no more soap and water bother to slow you down. The humble wet wipe comes in a variety of styles from facial tissues, make-up wipes, baby wipes to cleaning wipes and of course ‘flushable’ wet wipes. What could be more perfect, wet paper! Now you can effortlessly clean and tenderly caress your behind all at the same time! It’s so soft and moist you only need one piece, no more wasting paper and clogging up the drain from copious amounts of toilet paper. No more ass scraping to get that stubborn piece of nasty shit off your crack that just won’t budge. It’s much sturdier old toilet paper, no more crumbling in your hand when you pull it off the roll. What’s better the packaging says clearly that they are ‘flushable’. No need to strain yourself reaching for the far of bathroom bin, simply discreetly flush them away and all your problems are solved.

Or so you thought! Wet wipes are nothing like toilet paper, in fact they are not even paper but plastic textiles coated with either polyester or polypropylene resin and moistened with water and depending on the application other liquids; softeners, lotions, perfumes and isopropyl alcohol to adjust the tactile properties. To prevent bacterial and fungal growth wet wipes are loaded with preservatives such as methylisothiazolinone. Despite what the packaging indicates wet wipes are not flushable because unlike toilet paper they are not biodegradable, wet wipes do not actually break down. They break into smaller and smaller, microscopic plastic fibers to fill our fish and drinking water with plastic. As we speak wet wipes are clogging up your plumbing.

What makes something FLUSHABLE?
The dictionary defines FLUSHABLE – suitable for disposal by flushing down a toilet.

What makes something suitable for disposal by flushing down a toilet?
It is required to fit in a toilet?
What if it’s more convenient than going to the bin?
What if it says on the packaging that it’s flushable?

If it were simply required to fit in the toilet quite a lot of things would be considered flushable, we could almost do away with rubbish bins. That is if we were to ignore the size of pipes and environmental impact.

Flushing rubbish down the toilet may seem convenient at the time when you’re on the loo and you just so happen to be holding a piece of rubbish (as you do). However, it will come back to bite you on the ass! When your pipes are clogged and you really need to go but you only have one toilet and the plumber has just turned the water off. No to mention the plumbing fees $$ one Sydney resident had a plumbing bill of $16,000 to repair a problem caused by flushing wet wipes.

It goes without saying, wet wipes are not flushable and they are not the only unflushables that make up the soggy conglomeration that clogs pipes, that is known as the Fatberg.  F.O.G. or  fats, oils and grease that are poured down drains where they congeal are a major culprit, along with food scraps and rubbish, plastic toys, large goldfish, tampons, pads and their wrappers, condoms, nappies, cigarette butts, cotton buds, dental floss, hair and unwanted medication to name a few.

ACID, ANOSMI, AROMATICA
BITTER
CITY SMELLS, CORRUPTION, COUNTRY SMELLS
EFFLUVIOUS, EMANATIONS, EXHALATIONS, EXCRETA
DECAY, DEODORIZATION, DELICATE NOSE, DISINFECTION
FERMENT, FETID MIRE, FOUL AIR
HEAVY SCENTS, HUMAN SWAMP
INDIVIDUAL ATMOSPHERE, INFECTION
MALODOROUS, MEPHITIC, MIASMA
NOXIOUS
ODORIFEROUS, ODOR STATUS, OLFACTORY FATIGUE, OSPHRESIOLOGY
PERSPIRATION, POIGNANT, PONG, POWERFUL SCENT, PRIVATE SMELLS, PUBLIC SMELLS, PUNGENT, PUTREFACTION
RANCID, REDOLENT, REEKING, REFUSE
SCENT, SEPTIC TANK, SHARP, SOUR, STAGNATION, STENCH, STENCHES OF THE EARTH, STEEPING, STINGING, STINK, STRONG SCENTS, SWEAT, SYSTEM OF PERCEPTIONS
THE BASEMENT ODOR
VAPOUR, VILE, VIRULENT
WALKING DUNGHILLS, WHIFF

What is it about a stink? If you call it by any other name would it still smell as vile?

With such a limited vocabulary to know what a smell is, its type and where to expect it; it is essential to have categories that go beyond the banal sweet or sour. But for all the various categories from kitchen smells to laundry scents, bathroom stench, bedroom aromas and the many city and country stinks they fit neatly within two: public smells and private smells!

As an individual you have a personal atmosphere made up of scents that permeate your clothing, hair, skin and breath. Your dwellings, the private space of your home have their own atmospheres that permeate the furniture, surfaces, walls and flooring. These scents mix with and add to your own personal smell. Public spaces too have their own atmosphere and when people gather there their personal atmospheres mingle and latch onto each other creating a collective atmosphere, a miasma that lingers in the air.

The supposed volume of necessary fresh air within a confined space per person per hour has been measured to between six and ten cubic meters! But is air ever fresh?  With perfume, oil burners, deodorant, chemical cleaning sprays, fertilisers, weed killers, pesticides and manure wafting in the breeze. How can the confined air be refreshed when there is no fresh air outside and the only fresh air inside is recycled through the purifier after it is brought in from outside by the air conditioner.

Part Five of Vent Visits

This Sunday again I got up early, left at 7am and I caught the train to Kogarah which took longer than expected because of trackwork (need I say more?). I walked along Station Street, Paine Street and Queen Victoria Street towards Connemarra Street, Bexley. There wasn’t many people or cars around but unlike when I went to Bondi the sky was clear and the weather was noticeably warmer. When I reached Connemarra Street I didn’t realize Queen Victoria Street intersects, dividing one third of the street from the rest of itself.

Naturally I turned into the obvious part of Connemarra Street and of course the wrong direction, but I did spot a few modern vents which considerably made up for the extra walk (which wasn’t very long anyway). Bexley has two vents on the heritage register both are small wire vents similar to modern unregistered vents but they have a stylish pedestal base. It would however be more accurate to say that they have one and an bit because while one vent is intact and the other has been chopped down to a stump! The intact vent was easy to find, especially helpful that it had the heritage register sign stuck on it! The vent stump, being a stump and much shorter then a vent I had walked right past it about three times before registering that it was all that was left. I was shocked! The lack of searchable information on the vents, means that I am yet to discover why such destruction has occurred.

I retraced my steps back to Kogarah Station (considering the number of stops I wanted to make that day) and caught the train to Arncliffe. The weather had considerably warmed up by now. After consulting my maps I determined the best routine would be to walk along Firth Street, Forest Road and Wickham Street towards West Botany Street (which in hindsight turns is the long way and I should have gone along Butterworth Lane, Eden Street, Eden Street and Princess Highway to West Botany Street only because the vent is located at this end of the street). The good thing about a long walk, you have the time to notice things, like that birds like to sit on top of vents. I’ve seen some in Rhodes, Lilyfield, Glebe, Bondi, Marrickville and again in Arncliffe. Perhaps they have a thing for mephitic doors?

There was a motorway sign and a barbed wire fence in front of the vent or I should say where the vent once was! Again I was shocked. The difference between the Bexley ventastrophe and the Arncliffe ventastrophe is that the Arncliffe vent was an old brick masterpiece! The only existing evidence of its existence a small piece of brick wall and a already fading plaque with some information.
Looking up the Arncliffe Sewer Vent I found these two websites that go into more depth:
– https://extentheritage.com.au/project/arncliffe-sewer-vent/
– http://sydneynearlydailyphot.blogspot.com/2007/08/sewer-vent-arncliffe-great-big-fart.html
When I was so looking forward to seeing a brick vent, it was rather disappointing.

I walked back to Arncliffe Station and caught the train to Mascot, which required a change of trains at Wolli Creek officially the wind tunnel of Sydney! It was so windy and so cold. Of course the walk from Mascot Station to Tenterden Street, Botany did something in the way to warming me up. I walked along Bourke Road, Coward Street and all the way along Botany Road to Banksia Street and at the end turned onto Tenterden Street, Botany. Botany only has one vent on the heritage register and it is intact! Well maintained as far as I can tell from the paint job. The Botany vent was at the beginning of the street and much like the Bexley vents, it is a small metal vent with a stylish pedestal.

Stay tuned for the proposed Tour of The Great Big Fart Towers of Sydney, The City of Celebrated Stinks!