For a number of years now, I’ve noticed that on or around Christmas, something major always goes wrong. Sometimes it’s to do with the cars, but mostly it’s to do with the house. One year it was a blocked toilet. Another year, my fire-fighting pumps stopped working because the idiots that did the servicing filled them up with 2-stroke petrol. That was a very bad year. This year, it seems the kitchen is taking its turn.
The Offspring and I had planned on doing some baking today – cupcakes and gingerbread men – for a pre-Christmas visit to family. Not gonna happen because the kitchen sink has sprung a leak, a big one. We found out when water started flowing from the cupboard under the sink.
Being the daughter of a mechanical engineer, I mopped up the water and started experimenting. Yup, the connection from the sink outlet to the pipe below isn’t just leaking, it’s spraying water. What’s worse, because of the way the two sinks are plumbed, we can’t use the smaller sink either. No sinks, no dishwasher, no baking or cooking. And it’s Sunday, less than 10 days before Christmas. I wonder how long it’ll take for a plumber to get out here…
I did consider calling an after-hours, emergency plumber…for all of about 5 seconds. Then I remembered the last time I’d had to do that. It was over twelve years ago and cost me $500 back then. Nope, definitely not gonna happen.
So here we are, up the creek without a sink. Sometimes I really wish I’d been born a plumber’s daughter. 😦
Meeks
Inevitably, this major something ends up costing a major amount of money.
December 17th, 2018 at 11:10 am
It’s a plot! … our taps are getting old and drippy, but not quite enough for our landlady to change ’em out … this is an old-ish house, with most of the services, electricity, plumbing, etc, cobbled together by previous owners … so whatever she does, it’s going to cost a great deal of money. We figure we can live with it until Spring, but after that we might have to get a bit stern with her. 🙂
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December 17th, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Ugh. And that’s the flip side of the whole equation isn’t it? If you’re not paying for the repairs, you’re suffering the inconvenience and discomfort of a house that doesn’t quite work. 😦
We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.
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December 17th, 2018 at 9:51 am
Hugs, Meeka!
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December 17th, 2018 at 10:22 am
Thanks, Traci. -hugs back-
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December 18th, 2018 at 12:20 pm
You’re welcome, Meeka!
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December 17th, 2018 at 9:50 am
Reblogged this on Loleta Abi.
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December 17th, 2018 at 8:19 am
Oh, fingers crossed that you get it fixed soon and for a reasonable price. It is an automatic action to go straight to the sink and run water.
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December 17th, 2018 at 5:48 am
That’s kind of how my life usually works, Andrea. What a pain to not have a sink! Time for a basin and heating water on the stove. Pretend your camping! I hope you find a jolly plumber who can come and save the day. And my this all be a memory with the start of the new year. 🙂
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December 18th, 2018 at 1:46 pm
I think all the good wishes worked! Plumber came, fixed the problems and left. And I still have some money left. lol
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December 17th, 2018 at 2:44 am
Oy! Sorry, AC. That blows. As if there wasn’t enough to do this time of year. Hope everything goes smoothly for you. Massive hugs!
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December 18th, 2018 at 1:49 pm
Hi DV, and thanks. Yes, it’s all fixed and we’re now in the middle of trying out a bread recipe. Fingers crossed I’ve exhausted my share of bad luck for 2018. 😀
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December 17th, 2018 at 12:23 am
You can still get water through the bathtub and bathroom sink, can’t you? When we first moved in, the bathroom was the first room plumbed, and we did all the dishes in the tub and fetched cooking water from the sink. Hey, whatever works, right?
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December 18th, 2018 at 1:52 pm
Yes and yes, lol. You remind me of the first house we renovated, back when the Offspring was a tiny baby. Had a stove for sterilizing the bottle but everything else happened in the laundry. Gawd, never again!
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December 16th, 2018 at 8:05 pm
our sink was poorly plumbed. every time something bumps the waste pipe, it detaches and empties into the cupboard. Barry insists it’s something he’s gonna fix, but coz he can just wedge it back together, it’s been going on for about 8months. I (Devonian phrase next) have my arse in my hand about it, so refuse to tackle it myself, and he says he needs to be in the right mood. I have a spare bowl I use, emptying into a bucket, with loud complaint as and when.
It’s the one thing that annoys me about him!!
So, if it’s the outlet, not the inlet, it’s not fully out of action. x
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December 16th, 2018 at 11:25 pm
8 months….oh. my. god….I’ve only done the bucket thing for one day and already I hate it! Might I suggest a nice big hammer to put that pipe permanently out of action! That way he’ll have to fix it. Or not eat. Actually, the not eating part is really good. Couldn’t you just withhold food for a day or two?
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December 17th, 2018 at 12:39 am
fotl
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December 18th, 2018 at 1:50 pm
-shakes head- you do so much cooking too…
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December 16th, 2018 at 8:01 pm
I suspect there could be a best seller in our Christmas disaster stories. Not the sort which involve deaths in the family, but the minor catastrophes.We really ought to call on all the bloggers out there for their contributions 🙂
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December 16th, 2018 at 11:28 pm
-giggles- Um…yes. We could probably get a trilogy out of it!
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December 16th, 2018 at 11:35 pm
I suspect it’d be such a fun read they could prescribe it as therapy 🙂
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December 18th, 2018 at 1:53 pm
Oh, oh! What if we made it interactive?
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December 18th, 2018 at 6:23 pm
🙂
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December 16th, 2018 at 4:58 pm
That’s awful! I hope you can get it fixed soon without major $$. Might this be a reason to go out for Christmas, rather than cook at home?
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December 16th, 2018 at 6:05 pm
lol – you know, I’ve been threatening not to cook at home for decades! Maybe you’re right. Maybe this is fate. 🙂
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December 16th, 2018 at 2:36 pm
This is really bad luck. I hope you manage to get it fixed quickly and without using the out of hours man.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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December 16th, 2018 at 6:06 pm
Thanks David. Fingers crossed. -hugs-
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December 16th, 2018 at 1:55 pm
there is always something!
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December 16th, 2018 at 6:06 pm
Always. 😦
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December 16th, 2018 at 1:50 pm
fixed soon… of course. Sorry, I skipped a word 😉
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December 16th, 2018 at 6:07 pm
-hugs- I understood. Thanks for the kind thoughts. 🙂
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December 16th, 2018 at 1:43 pm
Awww… that definately sucks!! I hope you get this fixed and that it won’t cost a fortune!
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December 16th, 2018 at 1:31 pm
Very poopy indeed, Meeks. Sorry to hear it.
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December 16th, 2018 at 6:07 pm
lol – poopy indeed!
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December 16th, 2018 at 6:09 pm
A spade is always, fundamentally, a shovel.
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December 16th, 2018 at 6:10 pm
lmao – and /that/ is the Aussie humour to a ‘t’. 😀
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December 16th, 2018 at 6:11 pm
Yup. I reckon.
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December 16th, 2018 at 1:24 pm
Sorry to hear that. I hate when stuff goes wrong around the holidays.
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December 16th, 2018 at 6:08 pm
Yeah. It’s never fun, but this time of year it just feels malicious somehow. -sigh-
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