What caused this mysterious wet patch?

[EggBoxes]

As for most of us, yesterday was very hot and dry, so I was surprised to notice a wet patch in the front garden, almost but not quite, a puddle. This was about 5pm. It had a bit of an oily glaze to it, and was about the area of a plastic bag. The leaves on the side of the privet hedge near the patch were also visible wet. The liquid was odourless and tasteless, but felt a bit oily.

Can anyone explain what this was?

I don’t even let my dogs drink puddle water

A) I didn't drink it.

B) There was no puddle.

I currently sat in my bathroom, really upset as both dds had an epic tantrum this morning out of nowhere - they don't have tantrums. Do dh said we are not going out and Ive been looking forward to this for a week as we didn't go out last week as dh went out and got drunk with a mate and didn't feel up to driving the next morning.

Op, your interest in a wet patch in your garden has really cheered me up!

Was the position of the leaves such that the leaves could have dripped and caused the puddle, or are the wet leaves and the puddle independent of each other?

I think this may be a game.................... poster will reveal at end...........................

Also, did you ascertain that the puddle liquid and the leaf liquid were the same?

Maybe you have COVID-19 and have lost your sense of taste?

Doesn’t Ray Mears taste things for survival purposes in the wilderness rather than man made suburbia? Maybe there’s an apocalypse special I haven’t seen...

Is your camera motion sensored? Can you you scroll beyond those points?

I've been on loads of MN threads where they recommend licking things to identify them. In fact I'm normally the one recommending it. Nothing odd here.

@Burnthurst187

Crikey, who are you! Bear Grylls?

No! Ray Mears! OP referred to him earlier....much better survivalist to follow..he is better padded (ergo more successful) than Bear...

@MiddleClassProblem

Maybe you have COVID-19 and have lost your sense of taste?

Doesn’t Ray Mears taste things for survival purposes in the wilderness rather than man made suburbia? Maybe there’s an apocalypse special I haven’t seen...

(or that taste you get after you've run your fingers under the rim of a toilet and lick them)

I like you, OP

Was the position of the leaves such that the leaves could have dripped and caused the puddle, or are the wet leaves and the puddle independent of each other?

I like your theory. They may well be independent events. I don't think that one caused the other, but I do think it likely they were both caused by the same (external) event.

Badabingbadabum
I hope you got a say in cancelling the trip. Sounds like you didn't. Children have tantrums,life carries on.

But,yes, this thread is a bit bonkers. Tasting random wet patches is a new one on me.

@Badabingbadabum

@EggBoxes

"Start a thread on Mumsnet" they said. "They're wise and helpful and will solve this mystery" they said.

Brilliant 😂

We had similar in our garden but just the wet patch in the middle. It was the sewer pipe for the valley. It'd collapsed. Had to have the garden dug up to fix it. The water board did everything quickly and efficiently.

I think this may be a game.................... poster will reveal at end...........................

No this isn't a game! This is my life!

We had similar in our garden but just the wet patch in the middle. It was the sewer pipe for the valley. It'd collapsed. Had to have the garden dug up to fix it. The water board did everything quickly and efficiently.

Luckily for pavement-lickers like me, our sewers run at the other side of the houses. However, given that the waterboard were out listening for leaks (first time I have ever seen this in 40 years) I do wonder if there are some leaks, and this may be related.

Is your camera motion sensored? Can you you scroll beyond those points?

It's a Blink (I highly recommend them btw for a simple, wire-free, starter camera system). So, it would only come on if a person or animal actually came in to the garden.

No where near an overflow pipe from the roof? Our pipe drips off the roof every now and then. Some sort of safety feature off the megaflow water tank pressure release thing.

Do you live in Salisbury?

I’m laughing at how you’d imagine you’d identify it from tasting it 🤔. I mean are you familiar with the taste of aviation fuel, or muddy puddle 🤣 or any other random non-edible liquids 😆???

Swallow or house martin pee. Although that would be a big pee.
Small localised tropical storm
I'd still go with animal marking of some kind.

@EggBoxes

"Start a thread on Mumsnet" they said. "They're wise and helpful and will solve this mystery" they said.

I would have words with “they”.

But if it helps, I am sure it was a liquid.

My penny worth, someone left an ice sculpture there by mistake. Probably a delivery driver with the wrong address.

Was the wet patch underneath the leaves? Are the leaves in the shade? Could it be condensation on the leaves that had dropped down? It was very humid here yesterday...