water, water everywhere.

[jlh]

So at 8pm I'm sitting here minding my own business, eating some thai food that had just arrived and wondering what was on tv tonight, when I hear a loud rushing sound. I panic that my dishwasher has sprung some horrible leak, but no--a pipe had burst, under my kitchen counter. This isn't my actual kitchen sink pipe, but some bizarre miscellaneous pipe that went to an ancient sink of some kind.

I'm on the 5th floor so needless to say my downstairs neighbors were somewhat upset. My next door neighbor Frank and a really cute British guy from 2E braved our dark and creepy basement to turn off the water while I called the fire department, our totally absent and useless super, and an emergency plumber. (Really cute British guy turned out to have a really cute British lady but hey, at least he is straight.) I called Rach to have some companionship during my time of water, and the plumber came around 10pm. Not, as I'd assumed, some old guy with a belt pulling his trousers down, but a young North African guy with long hair. However, he wore tight low rider jeans so I still got an eyeful of his arse. It was nice, but he wasn't really my type. Took him about two hours to fix everything and he left about 25 min ago. And you'd better believe that money is coming right off next month's rent. I was lucky, as all I really have is a dirty kitchen floor that might have some water damage, and I'll throw out some plastic bags.

Man, I didn't get to eat my Thai food! But I'm too tired now, so into the fridge it goes, and into bed with me. But today, I'm thankful for good neighbors. Old and badly kept up as it is, I love my building because of the great people in it.

Comments

[morgaina.livejournal.com]

My washing machine broke last year... I was on the ground floor so it wasn't a total disaster, but man did I freak out. On the plus side, you have Thai food waiting for you in the morning!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Sadly the Thai food did not heat up very well.

I'm really glad it wasn't my dishwasher, as I am so not responsible for the damage or paying the plumber or anything, huzzah! But my kitchen floor is covered with a thin film of mud, and I had to wash all my silverware because the water sprayed up at the drawers. So tiresome.

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a night for you! Sorry I wasn't around when you ym-ed - we were at the neverending dinner party for a friend's 40th bday. If someone could explain why cocktail hour lasts for 45 min before the guest of honour arrives + an hour after, they win a bottle of Dom. Sigh.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

When I give formal-ish dinner parties I kept cocktails at one hour, and it was really only there to give people a cushion for arrival before the food was ready. Sometimes if people arrived latish I'd extend about a half hour, though. But in your case, it's because the host wanted to make sure everyone was there before the guest of honor showed up, and then wanted the guest of honor to have a whole cocktail hour. Which, I think, is sort of lame and controlling.

[sheryll.livejournal.com]

Some of the things that are done when renovating houses/buildings are downright stupid or frightening. Like leaving plumbing that's no longer needed or in use, which is what your case sounds like.

Our house is old and we discovered the first winter after we bought it that they had closed off one of the heating vents to the upstairs apartment so they could use it to run the plumbing pipes through. Makes for a rather chilly apartment during Canadian winters! You'd be surprised at where we found outlets and wires when we gutted our bathroom a few years back, and the number of rooms/outlets running of single breakers was beyond ridiculous. Ah, the joys of old houses. :)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Everything here is old and not very well kept up, especially the wood floor in my living room, pieces of which keep giving way. It's really quite annoying, and I'm concerned by the water damage in the kitchen floor. And don't even talk to me about outlets. There are all of two in the entire living room, and yet four in the kitchen in fairly inaccessible places. In the summer I have to run a very large extension cord from my window in the living room into the kitchen so the AC doesn't blow a fuse.

[disdainty.livejournal.com]

ahahahahah holy crap! i'm glad you didn't drown.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Dude. So much.

Ha, so glad you commented!