the rix mix

At 6 this am (I looked at the clock) I got up & went to the bathroom. I heard a slow drip in the cabinet under the sink, bad because it attracts bugs. I've stopped it before by tapping on a little hose. So I reached inside & did. When I turned on the tap, the hose popped off, the door flew open & water shot out. The hose had come loose. Instant freak out. With water flying in my face (never so grateful it wasn't steamy hot) I tried to turn the hand valve. It was stuck. The hose pointed outward. I grabbed a plastic pail but couldn't aim the hose in. The floor was becoming flooded. I ran in the other room & got a wrench, grabbed some clothes out of the hamper, threw the clothes on the bathroom floor & attempted to get the wrench on the valve. No luck. I ran back in the other room, got a hammer, whacked at the valve & it started to turn. I got the water shut off. It was a disaster. My heart was racing, I was out of breath, awake yet not fully in possession of my senses. I hoped the water wasn't leaking into the apartment under mine. I mopped up the water with towels & teeshirts, wringing it into the bathtub. A hard knock on the door, the nice woman downstairs, her bathroom was wet. I apologized, said no more water was coming. 6:16 am.

The past three nights the half-wit above me overfilled his bathtub, leaking into my ceiling until two tiles collapsed into my bathtub. It happened last month. I thought we had it settled. He doesn't seem to understand what he is doing wrong; if that's the case, he probably belongs in a group home.

Handyman woke me up at 8 am. Reattached the hose (I still don't trust it) , replaced ceiling tiles, & for good measure replaced a slightly cracked upper windowpane in the other room I hadn't even noticed. I went back to bed & slept fitfully through all his work.

Labels: home furnishings