Glug Glug
11:23 a.m. - 2005-05-29


I was attempting to iron a blouse for church when I heard a strange glugging noise coming from the bathroom. Here it is, Sunday of a holiday weekend, and my main drain is backing up. This means no working drains, including toilets. I called my usual drain guys, and they were closed for today! Whoever heard of a drain company closed on the weekend? Not me. So I called another one, and a cute young guy came out and used new technology on the main line, including a camera and viewing screen to see inside the pipe. "It is like a colonoscopy for your pipe!" he tells me helpfully. Turns out my pipe is jogged in two places (and has been for at least 15 years, because I have heard this before), and I need a whole new drain line. I tell him to just clean out the drain and make it work, because I have several more years of college expenses to pay. This makes him give up on the sales pitch, because you can't argue with poverty. He tells me it would cost about $4,000 for everything. I think fondly of my closed-today drain company whose guys always manage to get the drain clear. This new guy does comes through for me though, and we are back in business. But I guess I better start saving up $4,000 for the inevitable collapse of my drain line. Stupid earthquakes.

I may make more seed cubes today, or sew. I will also be doing laundry and other exciting things. This morning, while waiting on the drain man, I made a jar of salad dressing, and baked a batch of salmon cakes. And watched a DVD from the library, ten-year-old programs called Dick Francis Mysteries. Abby and I had a laughing fit over the way the hero looks in tight black riding pants, with his skinny little legs . This makes us wonder what constitutes a good looking leading man in English TV Land. They have these weird retro hairstyles, very coiffed and bouffant and crawling down their necks in the back. And, as in English books, middleaged guys are always going for very young girls, some still teenagers. I mean, 38-year-old guy and 17-year-old girl, how disgusting is that? But very English, so what's that all about anyway?

It is now noon, and due to the drains, I had to miss church. He and Abby went, though, so at least the family was represented. A family can manage without electricity in a pinch, but you can't manage without drains, not pleasantly anyway. My thought for the day.