Plumbing problems

occurred last night. I was being a good little cat and making sure that everything had been washed up before I prowled off....and the water did not drain from the sink. 

There was an ominous gurgling sound and then it backed up a little and refused to drain. Ugh! 

Did I call an emergency plumber there and then? I checked the water elsewhere in the house but all seemed well. No, do it in the morning because emergency services are very expensive and I did have water. (This is where big rain water tanks come into their own.)

This morning I went on line, found a "local" plumber and filled out the form putting in "today" rather than "ASAP it's an emergency". And yes, they did get back to me on the phone within the three minutes they said they would in the on line statement. Fine.

But the boy at the other end works in a "call centre". I suspect he actually works from home. He warned me the call could be "monitored for training purposes" - well yes, he needs some training. No, I was not going to give him any card details over the phone. He tried to insist. I still said no. "I don't give out that information over the phone," I told him. They didn't need it. There was no call out fee involved according to the website. 

Was he going to refuse to take the booking? He asked someone else. Then he made the booking rather inefficiently. He took the same information three times.

I wondered what the rest of the service would be like. I cleared the little cupboard under the sink in case the plumber needed to get into it. I was told "within the hour".

And yes, about twenty minutes later D... arrived. He was friendly and efficient. He looked at the sink and underneath. He filled the sink - and the water flowed out perfectly. He smiled at me and said, "No, I believe you. We need to waste a bit of water and fill the sink again. You turn the tap off when it is full and I will have a look outside. Pull the plug when I tell you."

I did that. The gurgling noise was back. He went out into the street and I heard him hammering away. He was looking into the pipe which flows into the street. I groaned inwardly because there could be a problem there. If there was it would be very expensive to deal with and I was worrying about paying him on the spot as they said I would need to do it that way.

No. He came back inside grinning and said, "It's your lucky day. The problem is out in the street. It is SA Water's problem. I'll give them a call for you and tell them. They have to be here within twelve hours. You can use your water but don't use too much at any one time."

All that was to the good but it was the next words which were the real relief, "It won't cost you anything." Well it does of course because we pay a water and sewerage connection like anyone else but it wasn't a huge upfront cost.

Phew!