Battling the Elements

[image error] ...0r rather, the qualities of elements. The weather here has taken a sharp dip southwards (that's 'southwards' as in 'down' not 'southwards' as in 'towards the equator' because that would be warmer and the opposite to what I wanted to say; words are useless sometimes). Every night, I've had to be careful about the water pipes in the hope that they don't freeze, explode and make a nice ice sculpture that people certainly won't pay enough money to see and cover the cost of repairs. That's a real shame. Anyway, I've done a pretty good job so far. Every night I turn the water off and empty the pipes. However, yesterday things took a turn for the worst.

Despite being careful, there was no water yesterday morning. Nothing. I waited. Nothing. I did a dance. Nothing. Well, my cat looked at me funny. Then I turned on the heater. Usually this will make the water appear, preceded by a few splutters and chunks of ice, but it didn't this time. I worried about it. I thought I might have to call the owner and try and explain in Japanese that the water-pipe heater was probably broken. I didn't. As it turned out I had a much worse conversation to have with her later.

(NB. Damn it's hard to blog when I'm watching a 'One Piece' marathon)

So, I tried to imagine all the things which might have gone wrong with the water supply. I checked the TV news for earthquakes and aliens. Then I danced about a bit more and kept trying the taps. Then the girlfriend woke up and I summarized the morning so far. Together we decided that the heater was broken. So we settled down to a breakfast with hot drinks missing. While we were doing this, the toilet suddenly made noises and spluttered and crashed and then there was water. We celebrated and then realised that the kitchen taps were still frozen. At least the heater seemed to be working. After a bit more fussing, the water eventually came through the taps. It was just really, really cold.

Today was the same, so I didn't stress about it. I left the tap on to let the water eventually come through. I left the heater on until I went to work. I got on with my morning and washed at work, which isn't a third world country and has hot water. I got on with my day.

Until I got a message from the girl who helped me rent the apartment. The owner had called her and said the pipes had burst at my apartment! She would have to send someone around to fix it... or she had already. I wasn't sure of the tense. So I panicked because we have a secret cat. It's like a normal cat, but when the owner finds out about it you suddenly have no apartment anymore. If she had seen it already, I didn't want to speak to her, but I couldn't run the risk of her still having to find it. So I escaped from work - like a ninja (a ninja with a note from his mum) - and headed home. I approached my apartment half expecting a van to be parked outside and an angry owner waiting for me with a scared cat, so I was sneaking. I got to the corner and couldn't see anyone, but the water was running down the side of the building. I stomped upstairs to the door, still thinking there might be someone inside, and unlocked it.... but my key got stuck in the lock, and the key, like a leech, was stuck to my trousers. I fought with it, cursing the timing and eventually tore the keys of my clothes, not from the lock. I went inside. The place was empty, except for all the water cascading from the sink. There was no cat. My first thought was that the owner had been in and rescued her. As I thought about what conversation was to come, I picked up damp letters and made my way to the sink. While maneuvering I managed to see that the cat was lying on our bed, safe in the dry living room. I turned off the tap and assessed the damage. Crap! There was a few millimetres of water across the kitchen.

Then it hit me what a stroke of luck this was. There was no actual damage; I had just left the tap open while it was still frozen and it had defrosted when the house was empty. The girlfriend didn't know and so hadn't turned it off before leaving for work. So no repairman was needed. I hid the cat and all her stuff in the cupboard anyway - we have big cupboards, and also, sorry, cat! - then I went downstairs to apologise to the man downstairs.

When I got there, his windows were now open, so I called to him and knocked on the door. He came out and I apologised, trying to explain as best as I could what was happening, but making sure he understood that everything was okay and didn't want to come upstairs to see.
"Have you spoken to the owner?" he asked.
"I'm just going now."
I did. I had basically the same conversation, but she told me to be more careful. Once again. I made sure everything was okay an understood that in no way did anyone need to come upstairs. Then I went upstairs myself and started mopping up the water. I can be a hypocrite. I used all the towels we had and took turns wrenching the water out in the sink. I let the cat out the cupboard too. She was remarkably fine with the idea of playing with her ball in the dark cupboard, but came to watch me anyway. She tried to walk in the kitchen but after dabbing her paws in cold water and hastily shaking it off a couple of times, she decided enough was enough and went to watch from the doorway only. Once I had finally finished I went downstairs to tell the guy that it was taken care off. He was just mopping up the last drips with a towel.
"Seriously, don't go upstairs. It's okay," I said.

Now, the floor is still a little wet, all my towels are currently frozen on the washing line outside and the water is already turned off so that I don't have to deal with this in the morning again. However, the good of it is that I got to speak a bit more with my neighbour. He seems like an okay guy. I went to buy a present for him by way of apology. All I could think to get was some sake - old Japanese guys drink sake right? - and then I took it to him. However, he said that he doesn't drink much and eventually gave it back to me after a conversation. I enjoyed the talking, but I felt bad he rejected the present. However, I also got the afternoon off work, tomorrow off work and Wednesday afternoon off work. Holiday! Yo-sh!

So there's my adventure with the elements. They won this round, but I'm prepared for their tricks now. The battle rages on...