Sunday, January 27, 2008

A fun thing I 'done' today ☺

Not for me the ancient delights and sights of Europe today, in fact, something much more interesting.

The bathroom ‘grease trap’.

I’ve only lived in two places in Copenhagen and both have had unusual drainage systems in the bathroom.

The first flat had a bath with a shower over it. I love baths and coming from Melbourne, which was in drought when I left, baths were a luxury and it was a hassle knowing you had to bucket the water outside into the garden if you did have one.

Moving into a flat with a bath was, at first, heaven.

I quickly did a huge wash of clothes, drew a bath and luxuriated with a book as soon as I moved in. The joy soon turned to dismay and disgust half an hour later when I realised I’d failed to notice the washing machine outlet drained straight into the bath where I lay.

In this flat, the washing machine, via a rather unusual piping system, drains into the shower recess but I can cope with dirty washing water flooding my feet on the off chance I misjudge the cycle.

What I did find hard to cope with today was the drain from the shower and basin gurgling up and flooding the bathroom floor as I stood shaving at the basin.

As anyone who knows me will attest, I am no handyman. I groaned and stood looking at the drain for a while, realising I would have to do something. You can’t live without a bathroom.

I dressed and grabbed a screwdriver and prised the floor drain open to be greeted by the most disgusting mess I’ve seen for a long time. This small square pit was literally full of – I don’t know how long’s – worth of gunk. We’ve not even been here two months, so it can’t have been ours.

I grabbed a bucket and latex glove and started scooping it out. It stank like nothing on Earth and I dry-reached several times but finally, mission accomplished and it was unblocked.

I feel, understandably, very proud of my accomplishment.


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