Wednesday, July 25, 2007

chicken little

I had what I deemed to be a highly ironic return to the country. For those of you who have followed my blog at all over the past little while, you will know that I spent the last 6 months getting used to cold showers. So in the back of my mind, as I flew, bussed, and drove back to the U.S., was the happy thought that I was returning to the ease of warm showers . . .
Well, arriving late at night, I did a bit of perfunctory unpacking and then promptly went to bed, sleeping soundly. The next morning I awoke to discover that my water heater had burst, flooding the attic [yes, unfortunately, the water heater is unwisely located in the attic], and causing the ceiling to collapse under the weight of the soggy floods.
Needless to say, I did not have a hot shower that morning. Or the next. Or the next.
But now, after a week of calls to roof repairmen, electricians, plumbers, and insurance adjusters—and of course, my ever-available superman and superwoman grandparents—all is well.
I have purchased a fine new water heater that sits proudly in its new home in the basement, the ceiling is looking more lovely than it has in 20 years, and we all are enjoying wonderfully hot showers!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my. I laughed a little when I read this post but felt really bad about it. A few years ago our hot water heater burst on Christmas Eve and this summer we got to replace our sewer line! Plumbing stinks. I'm happy to hear that you have nice, hot showers now and that you ceiling is repaired but, ugh, what a mess to deal with! Welcome back to the States, dear friend!

anna j said...

Ahh, you needn't worry about laughing . . . the funny thing is that it was decidedly less traumatic in my just-returning-from-Africa state of mind than it would have been otherwise, I think . . .
Thanks for the welcome!

Julia said...

Another great story, Anna. I also loved the post about Annie. But most of all, I'm just so glad you're back where I have half a chance of seeing you at some point in the near future.