"Torrential downpour". It sounds poetic enough when they forecast it but it doesn't really mean anything to me. So it rains...big deal. This is the UK after all. Well, it does become a big deal when the water starts to come into your house! And not from above but upwards from below.I'm sitting at home, recovering from yesterday, when a loud bubbly noise comes from the loo downstairs. Water is being pushed up through the toilet! I try to fight the water back by closing the lid but to no avail. Within minutes the water goes from bubbling to gushing and soon water is starting to come into the hall. A look outside into the pouring rain shows that the sewer can't get rid of all the water quickly enough and has started to overflow. The force of the water has pushed the sewer lid clean off giving way to a violent fountain of water.
How do you fight back the water without sandbags or even a bucket? My DIY solution involved a salad bowl and a dinner plate. And in my PJ's since those are the only shorts I have here and I wasn't about to go mucking through the water in my nice trousers! The nice thing about when disaster strikes it that you finally get to meet the neighbours. Nothing better for some neighbourly bonding than disaster tourism. Everybody is a photo journalist these days. The scene outside my house was indeed impressive enough to attract people from everywhere. Cars were stuck in the road, about to get swept away by the current, while the fire brigade had to rescue the poor/stupid drivers from their vehicles.
It's stopped raining now and the sun has even come out, trying to pretend it never happened. I have the smelly proof in my house that it did. As in many British houses our toilet is -very hygienically- outfitted with carpet on the floor and both the toilet and the hall are drenched in liters of sewage water! I've called the landlords hours ago but they have not returned my call at all and are taking off on their holiday this weekend. Great timing.
I've turned up the heating everywhere hoping this will help to dry up the place a bit but I think the best thing to do is rip out all of the carpet. I just beg the skies will stay blue.
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2 comments:
Het is ook het ene avontuur na het andere bij jou, he? ;-)
Maar serieus, wel behoorlijk balen! Op zo'n moment ben je blij dat het niet jouw huis is!
Eerlijk is eerlijk, de volgende dag heeft de huisbaas al het ranzige tapijt er uit gerukt en de boel ontsmet. Gezien de beelden op het nieuws had het een stuk erger gekund.
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