“If Something Pops, Pass Up the Flip Flops!”

Oil and water don’t go together.

Electricity and water don’t go together.

How about flip flops and water? Apparently not.

So how did I come to this conclusion? I learned one of of life’s little lessons. Sometimes we learn things through books. Sometimes we learn through documentaries. But the greatest lessons in life are usually learned through personal experiences.

I’m sure most of us have experienced plumbing issues. Maybe one of your pipes sprung a leak. Perhaps you decided to install a new bathroom and had to call in a professional. In most cases it’s recommended you call in a professional. But I’ve dabbled enough with plumbing to at least try and fix it myself.

So here was the problem. In our bathroom, the hot water tap/faucet on our wash basin had begun to leak. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the screw that connects the turny thing (technical term) had become rusted and was no longer doing it’s job. This caused hot water to drain out the faucet all the time. Nobody wants to pay extra money on their water bill. And because it was the hot tap, my hot water heater was working overtime and it was going affect my electricity bill. So, rather than calling in a professional, I decided to fix it myself.

To make a long story short, I made a trip to Lowes (the hardware store), got all my little doohickeys together then set about fixing it. This isn’t a “How To” post so here’s the abridged version: I turned off the water at the mains, went about cutting pipes, etc. (to install a shut off valve) and thought I had it all under control. I turned the main water supply back on then got ready to relax by making a hot cup of tea. Awesome.

Then came the sound that no “do-it-himselfer” wants to hear. POP! I leapt to my feet, slipped on a pair of flip flops and dashed towards the bathroom. My plumbing job hadn’t quite worked as planned and now my entire bathroom floor was resembling a kiddie pool. I had two choices…

1. Run to the main water supply and kill the water flow.

2. Throw all caution to the wind and dive under the sink and wrestle with the offending pipe.

So which option did I choose? Number two of course. Wrestling the pipe was a stupid idea to begin with, but that wasn’t the half of it. We have tiling on our bathroom floor and when you mix tiling with water you end up with a very slippery surface. Multiply that with panic, adrenaline and flips flops and you have a very potent combination. I basically went water skiing across the floor and went airborne like one of those Home Alone crooks in the movies. Not only that but I also hit the open sink door on the way down. Ouch! And the worst part of all this, Nobody was around to capture my hilarious fall for YouTube.

The moral of the story? If something pops, pass up the flip flops.