A Morning Adventure

This night owl stayed up a bit later than usual last night reading. There was some clown parked outside blasting some sort of talk. It wasn't music, which I suppose is good, since it might have been really horrible music. It sounded like someone giving a talk or speech or something. I could not hear the words, just the cadence and the voice, which I wasn't keen on hearing at 2-ish. Finally it stopped and I went to bed (kind of against my will, since I would have liked to stay up and finish the book). I woke up this morning in my usual summer befuddled state. I had to run through all the usual things in my head. What day is it? What is on my to-do list today? What have I planned for supper and what do I need to do ahead of time? It was all just like every other morning until I flushed. I woke up pretty quickly when water started spraying from the pipe connecting the tank and the bowl. I grabbed a mop and started sopping up the water. When that was soaking wet, I grabbed another one to finish cleaning up. Then I woke up a still-sleeping Bill to tell him not to flush and I filled a bucket with water and placed it in the bathroom.

When he was up and dressed, I called the landlord's wife and told her, after the usual pleasantries, that we had a problem and told her what it was. She said she'd call her husband to tell him, but that he wouldn't be available until this evening. I asked her what we were supposed to do in the meantime since we couldn't use the toilet. She said she'd call me back after she called him. I was glad that they re-opened the public bathrooms around the corner near the shore walk. Those are always clean and well-kept.

An hour later, she called and said he'd rearranged his schedule and would be here at lunchtime, which was about another hour away. I'd consumed some water and a coffee, so had to go use the facilities around the corner and when I came back around on my way home, I saw a plumbing van parked outside. I assumed he was here. I went inside and smelled some after shave or cologne and knew he was here. Then a masked Bill appeared at the top of the stairs to say he was here. He had a helper. He was somehow under the impression that the problem involved not being able to effectively flush things down the drain. I explained what the actual issue was, which required both of them to go down to their van. After that it was fixed in short order. There are other problems in the bathroom, though, like the soft floor. He confirmed that he will have to remove the sink and toilet, take up the flooring, and see what needs to happen. He is backed up as far as work goes, because of the long lockdown we are emerging from, but he said he'll bring someone with him in a week or two and work on it for a day or two (depending on what he finds when he takes up the flooring) to get it fixed. We'll see how all that goes. If he really does this, we will probably have to go somewhere for a few days while this work is being done. Luckily, B&Bs and hotels are allowed to open up in a week. They're filling up fast, because this is a staycation destination for people in the republic and a holiday destination for people in Northern Ireland--some places are already booked up and taking reservations for next summer! But if the work is done soon, it might be early enough for us to beat the season. I guess we'll find out!

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