Three Floods in Three Days--A New Record!
by Tina Blue
December 24, 2002
Just two nights ago I wrote and posted "Water, Water Everywhere--Darn It!" about my awkward tendency to start the water running in the kitchen sink or the bathtub and then go into another room and get sidetracked by this or that task or activity. All too frequently, those brief distractions last longer than I mean them to, and by the time I remember what's what, the water has covered the floor in the bathroom or the counters and floor in the kitchen.
Well, you'd think the fact that I wrote about these mishaps, and that we had a lively exchange about them on the iVillage deaf/HoH message board, would make me more aware of this tendency, and thus, for a while at least, somewhat less susceptible to it.
But noooooo. If anything, it must have made me worse, because last night I flooded the bathroom again, and as if that weren't bad enough, I managed to do it again just this morning. That makes Sunday morning, Monday night, and Tuesday morning all flood periods. Three days in a row. I think that's my record.
But there's more to the story than just the mess in the bathroom.
I finally stopped using towels to mop up the floor, because they get so wet and heavy, and take so long to dry. I don't have laundry facilities in my apartment, and the laundromat is several blocks away. And since I don't have a functioning car, that is several blocks on foot--in the middle of December. It is important that my laundry not be dripping wet when I take it to the laundromat. That would just complicate an already troublesome task.
So instead of using towels, starting with that Sunday morning mess I have been using spare sheets to mop things up. They don't get as heavy as towels when wet, and they are easier to wring out, not to mention being much faster to air dry, so that I can take them dry to the laundromat.
But last night it was sort of late when the tub overflowed, so after mopping up the floor with two queen-sized sheets, I hung them out on the porch railing to dry overnight. I couldn't find where I had left my bag of clothespins, though, so I just tied them to the railing by knotting their ends.
When I flooded the bathroom this morning while reading my newspaper too diligently, I headed out to the porch to grab the sheets for a quick mop-up.
But the wet corners that I had knotted to the railing had frozen overnight, so I could not untie them. They were like concrete knots!
I brought out my hairdryer and plugged it into an extension cord. Then I stood out on the porch (in 22-degree weather, I might add) for about 30 minutes, blow-drying the frozen sheet-corners until they thawed enough for me to untie them. Then it was back into the bathroom to mop up the mess on the floor.
Now I am drying them with a fan as they hang over the shower curtain, so I can have them ready tomorrow--when I will no doubt need them to mop up yet another floor-flood. I am bound to get phone calls all day from friends and relatives wishing me a Merry Christmas. There will be so many fine opportunities for me to forget that I have bathwater running!
