Plumbing

Plumbing in Egypt is…..interesting. Appropriate elbow joints, couplers and teflon tape are NOT standard gear here. Flexible tubing, masking tape and silicone goop are the norm.

We have a dishwasher in our kitchen that has gone through many iterations of “add more goop” to keep it from leaking all over the kitchen. It has been marginally successful.

Two days ago, I got a call from Jack – “We need a plumber – call housing”. The sink connectors were leaking, the dishwasher wasn’t draining, and everything under the sink was a puddle-y mess.

Yesterday the plumber came. He tinkered, gooped and “fixed” the problems.

This morning, while having coffee with our lovely guests, I heard a SOUND. It was the sound of water spraying under pressure. “OH CRAP – the dishwasher is running, the hose has let go, and the kitchen is going to flood.”

I ran to the kitchen. Everything was fine. The dishwasher had finished its cycle. There was no water on the floor (although the dishwasher had not drained either).

What the HELL is that sound?????

I traced it to the front door.

When I opened the door to the hallway, there was one of the farash (custodians) with the FIRE HOSE in his hand. He was using the fire hose to wash down the long, stone-floor hallway, so that he could squeegy it.

No Kidding.