We live in the UKraine

We just got back from having our first shower in over 48 hours. See... our boiler is out of order so we have no heat or hot water. This started Thursday night and will continue to be the case until at least Tuesday. A neighbor has left us her keys so we can use her shower (it's the landlady of the flat we used to live in downstairs... she basically doesn't live there anymore because she is in the process of moving in with her fiance). Lucky for us that this is the case. Otherwise, we'd be a bit stuffed because I'll be damned if we're going to ask to borrow one of the old farts' bathrooms!



Some backstory...
About half a year ago, the resident geezers complained that we had a pipe dripping outside which has made the wall wet and stained the building. We called and called the management company but never really got much response. A couple of plumbers have tried to fix it to no avail.

This lead to a revolt of sorts by the residents. They recently started a campaign of lies and lawsuit threats against our landlord. So, the plumber came out again this past Thursday. He bypassed a valve which was responsible for the leak, but warned that doing this might cause us to lose pressure and consequently have no hot water in the morning. He said to give him call if that happened. Next morning, we had to do just that because the boiler did not spring to life at 7am as it used to do. The plumber could not come until after 5pm so both of us had to go to work unshowered.

Yesterday evening, the plumber was here to work on the boiler. He installed a "pressure bulb" (the bulbous red thing in the photo) and re-routed a pipe or two. Unfortunately, after doing this, he discovered that something else was no wrong with it. Most likely a burned out electrical component. Of course, this is a part he has to order which he will not be able to do until Monday.

Fortunately, we were able to get in touch with our former landlady who happily has allowed us to use her shower this weekend. Even better, this means we can take showers with actual water pressure. Because her flat is on the ground floor, it does not suffer from the piss-poor pressure that ours does. Almost makes me wish they will NEVER be able to fix our boiler!

Oh, and another annoying piece of information. Apparently, there is a pressure-boosting pump on this site which, if switched on, would greatly improve the water pressure in the whole building. The plumber found this out when he was in our flat a week or two ago with a couple of the old "battle axes" trying to fix the leak, which at the time was thought to come from the toilet somehow. The toilet tank was very slow to fill and the old biddies wondered why. He explained that the pressure was poor. They said, "Oh, we don't have a problem" and then mentioned the pump which has never been used because "no one seems to have had a problem". Grrr! Had we known this a year ago, we might have tried to convince them to switch the damn thing on!

We must be living in an Eastern Block country or something! One of the tenets of Western civilization is good water pressure! But here we are having to do all these folksy work-arounds to make things work properly. Things like having to turn on central heating to be able to get hot water for the shower or for the kitchen sink. Or having to hang our clothing all over the apartment because there's no tumble dryer. Or needing to clear stagnant water in our shower drain by blowing through an empty toilet paper roll because the plumbing is so poorly laid that the water has to go uphill or something (when we do this, the sink and bathtub drains gurgle and spurt). Or the fact that we now have to wear a jacket or thick sweater, wool socks, and maybe a scarf INDOORS. And did you know that some buildings in the UK still use coin-operated electricity meters? It's true! There's a little box on the wall with a meter and a coin slot like those in an old-school candy machine -- the kind that you put in a coin and then turn the dial to make it go in. If you forget to keep it filled, the electricity suddenly cuts off. We haven't had to live with one of these in any of the properties we've been in, but some friends of ours did. Hilarious!

Now, I know it's in poor taste to complain about stuff like this when there are people in the world have have it 1000 times worse off. Our "difficulties" are obviously very minor in comparison. It just makes you appreciate the small conveniences in life. The things you take for granted. Something we are going to stay mindful of when re-patriating to the US, the land of gluttony and excess. Well, I suppose that's changing now, though. A positive thing to come out of this whole economic meltdown.