As Snow Gently Falls...
Monday morning, approximately 1:25 AM...
c-cc-creeeeeeek.... foooooooooooshhhhhhhhh
"Mrphhrmble...wha?"
Water. Running water. Downstairs....
Up. Out of bed. Thumping down the steep back stairs. Thumpthumpthumthumthump.
I open the laundry room door. Steam. Fooshing water. Not good.
I step in, getting sprayed down by water. Warm water. Not hot, and not cold, thank the Powers that Be, so that I'm not frozen nor scalded. Merely wet. I flip the cutoff valve lever that's worked many times before...
Water keeps flowing. As water sprays over me, I flip the lever back and froth uselessly. That explains the water temperature. It must be the valve itself that's frozen and given way, so that the escaping water is mixed....
Okay, enough time for thinking. Water is still spraying, I'm still getting wet. Soon, our apartment will be getting wet if I don't boogie. Time to move!
Jog back upstairs, look up the landord's number. Call it. Get answering machine, of course, as it's an ugly morning hour. I don't leave a messsage, as that'd be time spent talking rather than solving the problem.
Slap on sneakers, grab flashlight, jog into basement. Find the pipes coming down the wall, follow them back....through the dividing wall into the other half of the basement. Crawl over, under, and through. Shove aside the landlord's kiddie pool...
Aha! More shutoff valves. Flip one, sounds diminish. Flip another, sounds stop.
Back upstairs, call landlord to leave a message. Talk briefly with sleepy landlord's wife. Sorry to wake you Wendy, but we've got a plumbing problem over here...
So, how did you spend your morning? :)
c-cc-creeeeeeek.... foooooooooooshhhhhhhhh
"Mrphhrmble...wha?"
Water. Running water. Downstairs....
Up. Out of bed. Thumping down the steep back stairs. Thumpthumpthumthumthump.
I open the laundry room door. Steam. Fooshing water. Not good.
I step in, getting sprayed down by water. Warm water. Not hot, and not cold, thank the Powers that Be, so that I'm not frozen nor scalded. Merely wet. I flip the cutoff valve lever that's worked many times before...
Water keeps flowing. As water sprays over me, I flip the lever back and froth uselessly. That explains the water temperature. It must be the valve itself that's frozen and given way, so that the escaping water is mixed....
Okay, enough time for thinking. Water is still spraying, I'm still getting wet. Soon, our apartment will be getting wet if I don't boogie. Time to move!
Jog back upstairs, look up the landord's number. Call it. Get answering machine, of course, as it's an ugly morning hour. I don't leave a messsage, as that'd be time spent talking rather than solving the problem.
Slap on sneakers, grab flashlight, jog into basement. Find the pipes coming down the wall, follow them back....through the dividing wall into the other half of the basement. Crawl over, under, and through. Shove aside the landlord's kiddie pool...
Aha! More shutoff valves. Flip one, sounds diminish. Flip another, sounds stop.
Back upstairs, call landlord to leave a message. Talk briefly with sleepy landlord's wife. Sorry to wake you Wendy, but we've got a plumbing problem over here...
So, how did you spend your morning? :)
