Thursday 3 July 2008

Drip, drip, drip.

Yesterday we were connected to the new water mains that is supposed to change our lives. What are we going to do for entertainment without the 'Cheri(e), I flooded the neighbours" drama?, I did not think. The plumber announced, with a verbal flourish, that our water worries were over and left. Yeah. Right, I did not say.

This morning, there was a splash as I put one foot in the bathroom. Standing in a puddle is not a good start to the day, but my peripheral vision picked up worse: fingers of water slithering towards the door and the hall parquet intent on grasping it and twisting into unnatural shapes. I looked at the shiny new copper pipes. Dry. I looked at the wall where the plumber had drilled into the old upriser. Dry. An almost unoticeable glassy sliver of water went from the toilet in-pipe to the floor. Nothing to do with the plumbing work, then. I wanted to cry except it didn't seem a good moment to make a wet situation wetter.

The Frenchman tracked the plumber to the fifth floor, offered him a cup of coffee and asked if he'd look at the loo. He did and said it was a rotten washer. As he and the Frenchman drank coffee and talked football I rummaged in the kitchen cupboard and came up with a box of washers hidden under a bag of mousetraps. "Da, dah," I said with a flourish. "We have washers." The Frenchman and the plumber looked at me. "He's a plumber," said the Frenchman. "He's got his own washers."

I nearly said "I wouldn't be too sure", but there are times when you want running water and times when you don't.

4 comments:

Nicol said...

When your plumbing problems should be over. The saying, When it rains,it pours is certainly happening here. Hopefully this will be the end of your plumbing woes.

Dumdad said...

Blimey, you're having a torrid time with your waterworks, so to speak.

We're still without bathroom and one toilet as the plumber and associates install new ones. That's nearly four weeks so far and counting....

Anonymous said...

Nicol, I hope so but we have form on this so I'm saying nothing.
Dumdad, Are you still using the neighbour's facilities or are you best avoided?

Maggie May said...

I hate anything going wrong with water. makes such a mess.