I like our apartment. For the most part, it’s a really, really great place. Sure, we could use more counter space in the kitchen, as usual, and we could probably stand better handrails on the staircases, but for the most part, it’s been just fine. We’ve always had a problem with the faucets leaking a bit around the base when the tap is turned on in the kitchen and bathroom, and the bathtub’s spigot has been getting increasingly harder to shut off completely (for me, at least), but most all of our water sources are fine. Not long after getting the new washer, we did have a problem with the basement drain not draining, and it floods the laundry room every time we do a load of wash, but it’s not major or threatening anything. But as of yesterday, the people we rent from tore up our front yard with a mini backhoe. They had spent part of last weekend putzing around in the neighbor’s place, banging on pipes and making it sound like they were tearing down the wall between our places, but it hadn’t gone beyond that until yesterday. I came home to see a large pile of dirt piled up by our sidewalk, and it has only gotten worse. Whee!

So they’ve torn up the yard trying to find the septic tank, the basement drain appears to be filled completely with mud so doing laundry is pretty well out–moreso since they asked us this morning to conserve our water use. Therefore, I haven’t showered since Tuesday, there’s no hope of doing all the dishes, I haven’t been able to finish laundry and Simon asked that I do a load of his clothes but I can’t now, and I’m curious as to how much worse this is going to get before it gets better. I’m really hoping they don’t up and shut the water off completely. I like water. It’s good stuff. I just hope they get whatever they’re doing cleared up soon so I can have my washer back and so our front yard stops looking like a war zone–there’s a giant trench running all the way across it at the moment. If the rain keeps up, we’ll get our own private moat. Maybe I’ll ask Kitty to summon a monster or two to guard it.

At any rate, I’m at the office right now, and I’m going to spend the next couple hours grading papers and writing lesson plans. I’ve already cut out a bunch of paper fish to hand out to my classes tomorrow, so at least that’s done. For now, I’m going to the bathroom. Maybe I’ll get a drink of water and wash my glass mugs while I’m out wandering. Perhaps refill my kettle. It’s fascinating how much I start thinking about water only when it’s threatened to be taken away.