This is what most of Tunitas Creek looked like.
Saturday morning I went for a 50 mile bike ride from somewhere near Stanford, through Portola Valley up over the mountains to the west, down to the ocean and Highway 1, and back up a road called Tunitas Creek … over and down into Woodside and then back through Portola Valley to the car again.
I think it’s the longest ride I’ve been on … ever. I was conscious and feeling pretty good when I got home. My legs were really dead so if you passed me walking it probably wasn’t the smoothest gait you’ll ever see, but that’s bound to happen.
So I get home, take a little while to let my body cool down and then go take a shower. I’m not exhausted or bleary-eye tired, I’m standing in there doing my usual routine given that I’m far more conscious then, at 3pm, than I normally am at 6am. I’m singing and bobbing around, enjoying the feeling of the hot water and the “getting clean” sensation that’s involved in showering after a great workout.
And then I hear a gurgling noise coming from the vicinity of the toilet, look down and notice that the bath tub is starting to fill up. At this point I think it’s important to note that a couple weeks ago I had an issue with my bathtub and toilet filling with water and then eventually draining. Right then I start to panic. The water gathering at my feet is clear … but you never know with these things … so I start to rush my routine. Finish shaving as quickly as possible, do the appropriate sudsing and cleaning (no singing, no rubber ducky, no time) and I’m out of there in a flash.
Sure enough the bath tub doesn’t drain and the toilet is done bubbling, but it’s fuller than it should be. I take a couple pictures of the current state of affairs and promptly email them to my Land Lady to let her know that they didn’t fix the problem two weeks ago as she thought they had. She was coming over for me to sign the lease that afternoon anyway, so when she comes I tell her about the problem. She’s a little Chinese woman in her 80′s who usually sends her husband Joe to handle things. Joe’s hard of hearing.
Upon me telling them what was going on Joe informs me that I just need some Drano. Drano solves slow drains like mine. I try to tell him that I know what a slow drain is and that this isn’t it. One minute it’s draining, the next minute water is coming UP. Unless that Drano comes with some magic beans or a wand, I don’t want it. They leave after giving me some statement that they’ll call the association and have them come back out and look at my pipes.
What else is there to do?
But shortly after they leave, Land Lady calls and says that Joe is coming back over with Drano. Ok fine. Drop some Drano in the tub Joe. Let’s see if it clears up the issue with things coming up into my tub and toilet. Whatever makes you happy old man. He drops a half a thing of Drano into the drain, tells me to rinse it out with hot water 30 minutes later … I nod agreeably and send him on his way. Off you go Joe. This was at about 4pm.
So I go about spending the rest of my afternoon playing on the computer, watching some TV and over all just relaxing. I went in to check on the bathroom once and saw that things had drained and I was on with my life.
I ordered a large pizza around six, went and picked it up … ate my fair share and put the rest in the fridge.
I’m telling you all of this because it will be important later.
This concludes Part I of my weekend. Look for Part II of the saga on Wednesday and Part III will come on Friday. Part II contains what little nastiness there is, so if you’d like you can choose to skim it … but there’s comedy gold in there. You’ll be sorry you missed it.
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