Sunday 10 June 2007

Pic of the day: Not exactly a swimming pool.

Bathroom flooded

The heat wave over southern Norway is reaching a peak, it seems. I don't really think it is quite as hot as last summer, nor for as long, but it sure feels hot while it lasts and it sure feel like it lasts long. I keep the doors open at both sides of the house during the afternoon and evening, with disastrous results for the innumberable insects who think it would be a good idea to move indoors. They end up dead and dry as dust near the window the next day.

Today opening the doors just didn't do it. Either it is too hot outside too, or there isn't enough wind, or both. So instead I decided to do the obvious, and seek refuge in a bath tub filled with slightly chilly water. You lose heat a lot faster in water, after all. And even after you get out, you lose heat while the water evaporates. (I have doused my head with water for days already, which helps some.)

Usually I just shower. Usually as in "always until now". But this time I decided it was worth it, because I planned to stay there until I turned pink or slightly blue, whichever came first. The bathtub is not exactly a swimming pool - I could not stretch out in it. It is made for a shorter generation, I guess. And there's not much to do about it, as it goes literally from wall to wall in the only bathroom here is. (Obviously there is a bathroom downstairs, but I don't rent that part of the house. It is probably smaller than this anyway. Just saying they were not crazy enough to build a house with only one bathroom.)

Anyway, I filled the tub and repeated Archimedes experiment with immersing a body in water. (Countless other Norwegians have done this too, but at the beaches. There has been a run on the beaches this year, and I don't hold it against them.) So far, so good. I chilled in the tub (pictures not available) and eventually decided to get out. I removed the plug at the bottom of the tub. The water started flooding the bathroom floor.

This was a surprise mainly because I have been showering more or less daily since I moved in here (almost a year and a half ago) and seen no sign of flooding. Evidently the drain can ALMOST take the water, but not at such quantities. Also there were dubious ash-like dark particles in the water. EWW!

I think I'll stick with showering. Whoever moves in here next can deal with the plumbing. I've not had a bathtub since the day I was born (except when staying in hotels and borrowing my aunt & uncle's when I was in high school). I can shower for a few decades more, I hope.

Or perhaps I could only pull that plug halfway... hmmm... More experiments may be in order...