WATER WATER EVERYWHERE
Have you
ever had to forcibly go without something which then reminds you how
Western and spoiled you truly are. Or perhaps spoiled isn’t the right word, but
downright blessed. Over the weekend, a water main burst in our street and our
building lost water. And I tell you, by the end of the weekend I realized that
I would not fair very well in a third world country, let alone the desert.
When I
went out in the morning and saw the lake that was forming in our street, I
didn’t think much of it aside from the fact that there was a football game (at
the stadium mere feet from the burst main) on later that day and I remarked
that the water company had their work cut out for them. But as all was well
inside our flat, and I was busily preparing for my aunt to arrive, I figured it
was just one of those city things that happens and I was happy to ignore it.
Upon my
aunt’s arrival, we went about our day as per usual – which also meant dishes
were accruing in the sink, meals were made, and water was going to be needed in
our near future. Unbeknownst to us, by the time it came to bath time for the
King, I went to turn on the tap and nothing came out. I of course then turned
on the sink tap thinking, or shall I say hoping, that it was just the bath
(knowing it doesn’t work like this, I’m not a total moron). Like any Einstein I did this about three
times, as I was hoping it was just a momentary nightmare, only to soon confirm that fact that the water was not working full stop.
I went
downstairs and shared the news with my husband and aunt that we were waterless. A lot of
tap turning on and off ensued (I think they were going through the same ‘please
don’t let this be true’ episode I just went through). I think the only person
that was happy about this news was the King who was happy to forgo his bath
time. Of course as we had just made dinner this is when things got very
interesting. The dishes seemed to multiply over the span of ten minutes, we all
suddenly had the burning desire to wash our hands, and the kicker, it dawned on
us that not only could none of us bathe (my poor aunt had forgone a bath that
morning as she figured she could take a long hot soak at my house) but the
toilet would not be flushing any time soon. If there
is anything that will fill an OCD person’s head with fear, it is the idea that
three people will be using a toilet and won’t be able to flush it (let alone
wash their hands); especially a big strong man that likes to eat loads of food.
God help me.
Of course
this moved my husband into Defcon 3 mode and he set about finding every bottle
of water in a 3-mile radius (I think he proceeded to buy 30 bottles of water in
case we were without water for the next three days). One thing I will say about
him, he operates in a crisis like this with calm methodical precision. When it
comes to crises that tap into my OCD, well, I’m not so calm. All I can see are
dishes, toilets overflowing and unwashed bodies. Not a great combination to calm my nerves.
Needless
to say by the next morning, we were all contemplating washing in a fire hydrant in the street, or at least I was planning to use the bathroom anywhere but in the
house. My aunt decided it was probably a good time to head home – with me
almost hiding out in the boot of her car – and my husband decided that the
water bottle arsenal we had was not quite doing it, so he took the King out to
buy more. By the time the water came back on that afternoon, I have to say that
I have never been more excited to see a kitchen tap working in my life, and trust
me, showering never felt so good.
So in
honor of this, I’m going online right now and finding a water charity in Africa
to donate to and am counting my very profound water blessings!