Shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday 8-8 (i.e., August 8th), I was dealt a severe setback, a disaster. Water, -toilet water-, from one of my neighbors, two floors above, spilled down and rained directly onto my computer table soaking my monitor, keyboard, and everything on the table. In addition, the carpet was soaked and the computer and printer were splattered with the rain from above. Water also poured down into my adjacent bathroom and pooled on the tile floor around the toilet.
I had just returned from my evening walk. I was chatting with another neighbor as we passed in the hall. Suddenly, she remarked that she heard running water. Looking down the hall, we quickly spied a pool of water pouring from the ceiling and down the walls. And it was just outside of my apartment!
My first thought was to wonder what might be occurring in my apartment. Rushing inside I quickly spotted the water pouring onto my computer table. I tried to move things out of the way and put a bucket where I hoped it might collect some of the water.
To make a long story shorter, our evening building concierge, Dan, who had just began his shift at 8, was able to shut off the water to the toilet. This stopped the deluge. Another "hero" was our maintenance man. Joe El, who came to the building and spent several hours with a wet vacuum to suck up the water from the carpets in the apartments and hallways (floors 4, 3, 2, and 1).
But the disaster didn't end there.
When Lynn arrived home after things had settled down, her wrath exploded (this is not hyperbole) when she learned that I had actually talked with this particular neighbor. Previously, Lynn and this woman had, according to Lynn, exchanged strong words of a derogatory nature to describe each other. Because I had dared to engage in cordial neighborly chit-chat, I now had the honor of being elevated to the top of Lynn's All Time Sh*t List. In her view, such an interaction was a grave betrayal as well as a dishonor to the Almighty Queen. I had now graduated to being a deplorable not worthy of the presence and attention of Her Royal Highness. A persona non grata.
Postscript: Early the following week, The carpet that had been soaked was steam cleaned. This involved snaking a vacuum hose three stories up to the bedroom window and across my bed. It took about a day to dry. I'm not sure if it accomplished anything but it was probably prudent to have done.
Work also had to be done in the bathroom to address a bubble of water that appeared in the wall. Despite my inquiries, nothing was done to investigate or mitigate the potential for mold above the bathroom ceiling. Based on the condition of the ceilings in the apartment, I would guess that this was not the first time this apartment had experience water from above. I later found damage to items stored in the closet outside the bathroom.
My computer was idle for months. I wanted to file a claim but the apartment management would not cooperate. After consulting with my insurance agent, I realized that replacement of the water damaged items would be within my deductible. I concluded that it probably wasn't worth trying to file a claim in small claims court. So nothing was (or could be) done. I ended up offline for months (although I could access the internet via my cell phone service as well as work computer).
Lynn moved out before the end of August. I'm not sure if this could be considered a disaster since it was a relief to be away from her wrath. There was no financial hit since I was covering everything. Still, how sad for a relationship to end like this. However, it was probably inevitable. And now I have an extra room which I can use for my office.
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Written Sunday 17 January 2021.
