Never take things for granted in life

It's been quite a stressful 24 hours. Basic things we take for granted such as water can be taken away within seconds.

It all started last night, our shower was blocked (luckily after we had our shower!!!) and we spent two hours trying to unblock it with nothing but a plunger. In the end I had to scope out all the water from the shower tray. It took me ages and I must have discarded about 40 liters as there was overflow from the cistern (clean water I have to stress) and the hand washing basin. By 2am the water had levelled at the water outlet level and it looked like there was no more water flowing to the shower. I was quite exhausted and decided to call it a day/night. I went to bed but didn't sleep very well as I was worried the water might start to overflow again. Luckily it didn't.

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The next morning I went to the shops to get some baking soda and vinegar. I threw some baking soda down the shower drain followed by equal amount of vinegar. It fizzed. Then I flushed a bucket of hot water at it hoping it would all flush away immediately. Nope. It just sat there in my shower tray. If I had a rubber duck, I'm sure it would have happily swam in there. So the whole episode from the previous replayed again. The plunger came out, but that didnt work, though it did pump out some gunk and grime. Not the prettiest sight, but at least the soda and vinegar was of some use.

Hubby went out to the shops to get one of those drain unblocker wire thingy, whilst I started to scope the water out. To cut a long story short, after two more hours none of the soda and vinegar, plunger and the drain unblocker thingy worked. I gave up and called Steve, the plumber. He identified the problem being the Saniflo toilet. This is the pump behind the toilet that puverises all the toilet waste into liquid and flushes it away via a small pipe. Normal toilets discards the waster via the general waste pipes. By they way, I've learnt quite a lot about how toilet drainage system works today.


Steve said he'd be around tomorrow morning and told me not to use this toilet for the night. Luckily we have another shower we can use. Problem solved for the time being, or so I thought. Hubby went to check out the other shower which we've never used before, just to make sure everthing was ok. As soon as he turned on the water, one of the mixers fell off!!!!
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Water started gushing out side ways splashing onto the shower screen. No matter how he tried, he couldn't attach the mixer back on. And none of the screwdrivers or pilers could switch the valve off. Hubby was pretty much drenched! I called Steve again, and luckily he agreed to come over immediately. That still took a good twenty minutes, very quick for an emergency plumber callout in UK, but ages when water is gushing out from the shower. Anyway, to cut another long story short. When Steve arrived, he found the water mains and switched it off immediately. The shower mix couldn't be fixed and the water won't stop gushing if the water mains is on....... and hence we're without water tonight ☹️
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There's always a silver lining to things, and we're not 100% without water. I live above a vacant shop that has its own water mains so we've been carrying bucket loads of water upstairs. I have about 40 liters to last us for the night, just need to make sure we limit out pee times 🙄
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Cooking is out of the question tonight, what would we do without home delivery especially when it's raining.
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Joking aside, this little episode has really made me appreciate things that I normally take for granted. Often you hear stories about how some people in this world still live without clean water. My experience won't change the world and it won't improve the lives of those who have no access to clean water. Does my view on no longer taking things for granted matter at all if I don't actually do something to make this world a better place? Do I have a moral obligation to action whenever I have a reflection in life? Or is it ok to just reflect?

I'm blabbling now as it's getting late.....



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31 comments
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What a challenge!
I'll probably put my hand up, then call the plumber!

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I grew up having everything restricted and rationalised. Water, electricity, food, human rights, you name it. So I know what you must have went through, when one of the basic elements of life has been taken away from you.
You are right, we have to stop for a moment and appreciate what we have. I hope this won't happen again though as it's frustrating.

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I think it's even more frustrating that nowadays some people still have no access and rights to some of these things, still quite a big gap between the haves and have nots. Whilst we'll never get rid of these differences, I think the gap between two extreme ends are just too hugh. I read recently, a certain top English footballer is paid £600k a week!!! And he can't even manage to bring a cup back home for us. Just his one or two weeks wages will make a massive difference to many people's life in UK

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I agree. You can see on Hive, how some people are living, struggling every day, while others (usually in key government positions) get rich day by day.
And yes, some sports people are paid like kings, even though results are lacking.

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Call the plumber!!! hahaha and out of all choices you ordered nandos :)

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It's your choice to take action or to simply just reflect. Highly dependent on situation. Life can be complicated and also uncomplicated. That's the real problem.😂

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Hello @livinguktaiwan I felt your anguish when I read your post, I think that it was not so much that the water will run out as that it was wasted.

Both situations are to worry, being without water and watching it go to waste.

In recent times in my daily life I do not take anything for granted and when I have a little quality basic services I appreciate that fact so much.

You have to reflect on the bad experiences, good for you that you have achieved

Reflecting is the first step, then we act. A pleasure to read you greetings 🙋🏽♀️

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Watching watch go down the drain for 20 minutes is very heartbreaking especially when I know some people don't have access everyday.

From what I've learnt from you about Venezuela, I can sort of understand why you appreciate what you have. Hope things are getting better, or at least not getting worse over there
!ENGAGE 20

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Wow thats quite the night you had. I can only imagine the stress of having the water gushing out from the pipe like that. I'm impressed that you were able to stay positive despite all that and find a silver lining to it all.

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I guess I treated it as a camping night in the end but with a roof over my head. I've decided I'm not a big fan of camping now 😁

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You know, until this post, I didn't know a) you lived about a shop and b) you had a husband. I don't know why I find this interesting - maybe as it's another side of you that I didn't know, and I always imagined you travelling like some glamourous cool person. I'm glad you are normal and have plumbing issues like the rest of us.

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You mean like this 😀
"

You should have seen me kneeling down beside the shower and scoping out all the water into the bucket the other day, not the most glamourous sight 😁

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Oh what an exciting night. Just gets the juices and creativity flowing, doesn't it. How things work and how to fix them in the future is a learning experience you won't forget. As with the other author's comment, I imagined you on a yacht relaxing all day, then breaking to write a post :)

Definitely so. My family was poor growing up. But once I found out there were people in this work who were worse off then we were, I just couldn't imagine it. I used to get stark raving mad that me and my siblings had to share water. As you say and I know to be true, what about the millions with no access to clean water. It wasn't a minor inconvenience as I complained about. It's a total shocking eye opener.

I believe that once you experience an event that gives you a glimpse into the lives of the unfortunate, then it's an opportunity for you to embrace the "empathy". This goes far beyond just having sympathy or compassion and move on. Always remember Luke 6:38 (KJV).

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Even in Western Canada where there is an abundance of fresh water I have some Preps to deal with water issues should we experience a statistically overdue major earthquake that may likely rupture or damage both water and power distribution systems, We sure take these conveniences for granted even with my limited skill.
When I need plumber it's also an opportunity to learn something too.

Here's to learning new skills after a disaster. [heart]

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I can so relate and these moments make us more aware and I had the same but with the special soda I got rid of the problem so I could relate reading your blog

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