Plumbing emergency and cancelled holidays.

I never noticed how noisy the bathroom flush in my flat was until this week. I do now, it is stuck on permanently.

It went gradually over a few days. After each flush, the cistern would fill, and then overflow for a short while. With each flush it would overflow a little longer.

my cup runneth over

I am not sure how long this has been going on. A few weeks ago, I woke up to find a puddle on the floor outside my bathroom. I could not trace it to anything obvious at the time, but maybe it came from the cistern overflowing.

I looked to fix it, but the valve controlling all water into the flat has seized up. I am not risking bodging that myself. I need someone to bodge it professionally.

The plumber will call this weekend.

I was due to go to Holland for the week, but I was not happy with leaving the plumbing in this state. So I cancelled.

If there had been a leak whilst I was away it would have been disastrous. Three years ago, a pipe burst in a flat when the owner was on holiday. It was noticed by the people in the flat beneath when the paint on their ceiling started to peel.

The landlord called in the Police to force entry, then an emergency plumber to fix the pipe. The tenants were billed for the lot, including water damage to adjoining flats.

I am trying to see the positive side of cancelling the Dutch trip. I have spent the four days I would have been on holiday in Holland, improving my “Getting Things Done” web application. This low priority task would not normally get done.

And at the moment I am being lulled to sleep by the sound of cascading water. I close by eyes and imagine I am already on safari in South Africa.

Happy thoughts as the English Autumn advances.

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