I would say that I have jumped off the deep end...

EXCEPT I HAVE NO WATER.



Two blog posts in one day, an unprecedented treat, but I simply had to share how this nightmare continues. The two workers toiled, sweated and cursed at each other (I have been learning a little Italian) from 9am to 1:30pm. Finally they declared their work finished after asking me for one of my kitchen pans to put beneath the big new tank because it is leaking, "solo una po'acqua senora" the men assured me, it was only leaking a little, surely this baking pan would do just the trick. My 80 liter tank would be warmed up and ready in just one hour. After they left with their two buckets of tools and dusty boots, I surveyed the damage, I have two holes in the bathroom wall. No worries, they did a fancy job spackling them and discarded the leftover spackle in my bathroom sink to dry and crack. It will be a nice project for me later to scrape it off with my bare fingernails. There is dirty water everywhere as they used every drain, including the toilet to dump the old rusty water that was in the broken heater. Finally I have a nice sprinkling of plaster, paint chips and dust (some of it was there before) throughout the entire apartment. There was only one thing to do... leave. I could hope that when I got back it wouldn't be as bad as I imagined.

I went out to lunch and returned an hour later. It was as bad as I had thought. In the meantime, it looks like Charlie has managed to walk through every pile of dust and now there are paw prints trailing in and out and on top of every visible surface. There is only one thing to do, start scrubbing. So, I drag out the sweeper and promise myself a reward of a nice, long, steamy hot shower after I am finished. This is when I think that it might be a good idea to resoak the plastered sink in hopes to remove it in a weakened and wet state. I flip on the faucet and out rushes a hiss and a few drips of water. It is then and only then that I remember seeing something posted on front door of our building, so I trot downstairs with a sinking feeling, because I know that I know what it says. Sure enough, it is a warning that the water will be turned off to the entire building for the entire day.

At least the lights are on and I can see that the house is dirty and that I am now filthy and that the water is not even a stream.