Peter closed the main valve and I told the neighbours what had happened. Our plumber's wife, who's in charge of fielding his calls, can only be described as a witch (we had previous experience with her when the apartment was being modernized). I explained what was going on and she promised to ring me back as soon as possible. A good hour passed without any response from her, the husband or his sidekick didn't turn up, and nobody in the building had any water.
As luck will have it, a local plumber has a warehouse where he stores his equipment just down the road from us and the plumbers had just arrived to leave their van on their way home. I quickly went to them and explained our plight. They came, had a look, talked a lot in impenetrable French, welded the pipe, asked me to test our taps (faucets) and that was it. When I asked how much I owed them, they said they would send me a bill. All within half an hour.
I rang the witch and got the answering machine, so I left a message saying thank you, but everything was ok and we wouldn't need their services after all.
How's that for an exciting day, eh? Tomorrow we're installing a ceiling fan with the help of a friend who knows what he's doing. That's very good, because we don't have a clue.
Wish us luck. Considering the fact that I managed to steam one of my assets while cooking dinner last night and the burst pipe today, I think we're going to need it!
