Elementary My Dear Watson
Posted on November 6, 2005 - Filed Under Housing |
Saturday morning and I had just completed my first night in the house.
Next step: Shower
Because of the broken handle, I used pliers to turn on the water. But there was no water. None. No sound of hissing liquid came from behind the valve. I sat there in complete confusion. The last time I repaired this shower, this valve worked perfectly and water was flowing.
Confused, I approached the sink in the bathroom. Yes, water was flowing and it was HOT!
So what was going on?
I tried it again. Nothing. I turned the valve for 10 minutes and nothing. Zip. Nada. Rien.
I was irritated. I had just finished my first night in my new house and I couldn’t even shower? I’m one of those people who can’t function in the morning without two things (1) a shower (2) an espresso. Without either one, I’m operating at 50% capacity. Deprived of both, I call in sick that day.
I did the only thing I could think of at 7:00 in the morning . . . I went to the coffee shop! I promised Anne that I would continue going there after I moved and I’ll stick by that promise. With my car on the road, I navigated my way south on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).
As usual, Anne and Tony’s generosity and patience with me knows no bounds. After my morning espresso, I was showering away in the same shower I had been using for the past three months. And I admit, it felt pretty good.
After I loaded up my car with more of my belongings, I sat inside their house and sipped away on my vitamin drink. Tony and I were, once again, discussing the situation with my shower.
For those of you just joining in, my first official "landlord call" was with this very issue. Check the August 6th archives. The tenants had called to let me know that the bathtub handle had broken. I was fortunate enough to have the world’s coolest plumber and, for 1 hour’s worth or work, he charged me nothing. After I had replaced the broken valve, I verified that the water worked. And it did. Water was gushing everywhere. And Tony verified it!
I was telling Tony the possible reasons for this new happenstance. Since my plumbing is exposed, I figured that Mean Grandma had sent her husband to find a shut off valve and shut off the bathtub completely. Or maybe she got 40 ouncer to do it. This was their way of "getting back at me".
When I was in college, I became obsessed with the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson occupied my attention. I remember during that summer period, I swallowed all of the Sherlock Holmes short stories and all four novels. I couldn’t get enough! Holmes’ grasp at methodical thinking, be it usually with human beings, always fascinated me and sent me down a road of trying to mimic his thinking when dealing with other people.
I took a nice long drink from my mug. "No, my theory doesn’t make any sense. Am I saying that Mean Grandma’s lazy husband crawled underneath my house for a small shut off valve? Not likely. Not only wouldn’t he do it but his beer gut couldn’t fit in entrance to the crawl space. And 40 ouncer? He’s skinny enough. He could fit in there. But there’s no way he’s going to get dirty. He can’t stop washing his bicycle."
Tony asked, "So where does that leave you?"
After a moment, I started reasoning this out. "The shower must work. If it didn’t work, Mean Grandma would have been all over me. She completely freaked out when I removed the security screen door from the front house. And that was just a screen door. There’s no way she and her entire household dragged themselves every single day into the second house to shower there."
Tony said, "That makes sense. So what’s going on?"
I had no idea. I arrived at my houses shortly thereafter. I tried once again and again nothing happened.
Sherlock Holmes’ montra: "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." This couldn’t have been the fault of the tenants. It had to be something simple. Something that I had missed. But what?
A few hours later, my cool neighbor came knocking on my door. We talked for a bit and then I asked him if he knew any plumbers. Of course, he did. I told him what the problem was with the shower. Without hesitation, he went into the bathroom and starting turning the same valve I had been turning. Nothing. Nada. Rien.
He then stood up and started looking at the shower head. He reached up and suddenly water came flowing out. I flipped! How did that happen?
Apparently, this shower setup has an on/off switch on the shower head. I have never, ever seen anything like it before. When I was little and traveled with my parents, I got exposed to many different types of bathtub knobs. I can figure almost any one of them out. But I had never, ever found anything on the actual shower head. Until now.
I would have felt like an idiot had a plumber come out and hit that switch. The difference between my neighbor and a plumber is that the plumber wants money. The only payment my neighbor requires is seeing the dumb-founded look on this smart-alec college educated kid’s face.
If you liked that post, then try these...
Fair Options on February 6th, 2007
I had a feeling this would come.
Down the chute on August 3rd, 2006
And one more time, we go down the ladder.
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