Plumbing
It is two and a half weeks since that last post - makes it sound like a confession! The plumber is finally here with his lad and they have just removed the wall cabinet after struggling with it for almost an hour. They are currently hacking into the wall behind to locate the source of the leak and with any luck fix it.
Funny thing was, I did call him the day after the last post. It was late morning and at first all seemed fine, we had a nice conversation about our trips back to our respective homelands and he promised to call me and then come over on the Thursday as he would be very busy until then. I asked him about all the music he had been so looking forward to hearing in Bolivia and off he went, regaling me with stories of parties and endless nights of song and spicy food. He sounded stranger and stranger - under the influence at 11 on a Monday morning? Well, people do keep funny hours here, so it was not unreasonable for a chap who often has to work through the night to be unwinding twelve hours later than yer average. But it was bizarre. He is such a sweetie, very clean-cut, always professional and polite - it was an incongruous encounter. The final theme was what a great lady I am and it was hard to get him off the topic and indeed off the phone. In the end, I said, so you’ll call me to confirm when you can come over to look at the leak on Thursday? And with another slurred compliment or two, he agreed.
So, he never called and he never turned up. I guess he had forgotten the conversation. As if by magic, the trickle of water down the kitchen wall dried up and I let the matter drop.
Then last weekend, I noticed the rusty rivulet had reappeared on the tiles. Bugger! I also happened to be going upstairs for something and saw to my horror that that whole wall is soaked; clearly the leak had continued but for some strange reason had been temporarily out of sight. It could probably be explained by geography or physics. Maybe there is now an ox-bow lake in my wall!
So I called the plumber again and said I have this water running down the kitchen wall from behind the cabinet. He said “Oh, how dreadful, I will come and look as soon as I can, which I am afraid will be Thursday.” It was like having the same conversation all over again, only this time he was sober. He seemed completely unaware that we had already spoken so I can only surmise that he was indeed off his face first time round.
Anyway, back to his usual self, he appeared on the dot when he said he would and has knuckled straight down to the job. We have had a little chat about the lack of spicy food in this country and now I have left them to get on with it.
There, he has finished, put in new pipes, cemented the over the hole and put the wall unit back, for almost three hours work which I have payed him eighty pesos - a lot of money here but about £13 back home. I have people coming for lunch on Sunday, so I certainly hope it stays fixed.
I asked him to let me know when he is performing - I would love to go and hear him sing Bolivian folk songs. Must remember to follow that up.
Funny thing was, I did call him the day after the last post. It was late morning and at first all seemed fine, we had a nice conversation about our trips back to our respective homelands and he promised to call me and then come over on the Thursday as he would be very busy until then. I asked him about all the music he had been so looking forward to hearing in Bolivia and off he went, regaling me with stories of parties and endless nights of song and spicy food. He sounded stranger and stranger - under the influence at 11 on a Monday morning? Well, people do keep funny hours here, so it was not unreasonable for a chap who often has to work through the night to be unwinding twelve hours later than yer average. But it was bizarre. He is such a sweetie, very clean-cut, always professional and polite - it was an incongruous encounter. The final theme was what a great lady I am and it was hard to get him off the topic and indeed off the phone. In the end, I said, so you’ll call me to confirm when you can come over to look at the leak on Thursday? And with another slurred compliment or two, he agreed.
So, he never called and he never turned up. I guess he had forgotten the conversation. As if by magic, the trickle of water down the kitchen wall dried up and I let the matter drop.
Then last weekend, I noticed the rusty rivulet had reappeared on the tiles. Bugger! I also happened to be going upstairs for something and saw to my horror that that whole wall is soaked; clearly the leak had continued but for some strange reason had been temporarily out of sight. It could probably be explained by geography or physics. Maybe there is now an ox-bow lake in my wall!
So I called the plumber again and said I have this water running down the kitchen wall from behind the cabinet. He said “Oh, how dreadful, I will come and look as soon as I can, which I am afraid will be Thursday.” It was like having the same conversation all over again, only this time he was sober. He seemed completely unaware that we had already spoken so I can only surmise that he was indeed off his face first time round.
Anyway, back to his usual self, he appeared on the dot when he said he would and has knuckled straight down to the job. We have had a little chat about the lack of spicy food in this country and now I have left them to get on with it.
There, he has finished, put in new pipes, cemented the over the hole and put the wall unit back, for almost three hours work which I have payed him eighty pesos - a lot of money here but about £13 back home. I have people coming for lunch on Sunday, so I certainly hope it stays fixed.
I asked him to let me know when he is performing - I would love to go and hear him sing Bolivian folk songs. Must remember to follow that up.
posted by Rachel in Buenos Aires at 6:01 pm
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