Why I am fecking brilliant II

[flemmings]

When the tilers finished with the tile Monday morning they said The plumber'll be coming tomorrow to put the toilet in. Good, thought I, no more slop buckets.

Only of course he didn't come.

Days pass, and today I thought, in heat lethargy and codeined back spasm, maybe I should call him? Or, well, but. But maybe I should call him? So I call his cell and I hear him saying "I don't believe it." Pardon? "I was just thinking I should call you. So look, the painters will be in on Monday to do the walls---" Wait wait wait. The painters- who are also the drywallers and tilers- said they wouldn't start painting until the window frame was in and the window frame is on order so painting is the *last* bit they'll do--- "Oh I changed that. They'll paint and then I'll put in the vanity and the basin." Yes, well, cleaner that way no doubt but-- "About the toilet..." "Oh my god, sorry, I should have been around to install that before, I'll be there tonight."

And he did come. And reinstalled my old toilet. Did I know this would happen? Yes I did. 'Put it on the porch' indeed.

The new toilet will be installed after Monday when they've finished painting. My mother's imagination of disaster is vindicated again, rot it.

(This also meant going out to buy paint in heat lethargy and codeined back spasm, because tomorrow I work and Saturday a) will be hotter than today and b) is no day to be buying anything at the hardware store. As it is after only two trips to match paint chips I got something that I think will match the trim very well indeed.)

Comments

[incandescens]

Gah. Sympathy. But congratulations on the brilliance.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Expect the worst and the only disappointments you will have will be happy ones. But ah! flush toilets! I am *such* a city child. Portolets- outhouses- squatting in the bush- forget it.

Orthodoxy ought to
Bless our modern plumbing:
Swift and St. Augustine
Lived in centuries
When the smell of sewage
Always in the nostrils
Made a strong debating
Point for Manichees.

(All the versions of that online leave the third last line out. I wonder why?)

[incandescens]

I don't know that one. What is it / where is it from, please?

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

WH Auden, The Geography of the House (http://www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/w__h__auden/poems/10141).

[incandescens]

Aha. Thank you.

[mikeneko.livejournal.com]

Phoo. If you're going to be that persnickety about modern amenities, then you should learn how to install one.

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Yes, paint first! Otherwise there will be spots the painters can't reach and you will always know they are there, even if you can't see them. Besides, the paint does help seal the walls from moisture.

Good job on the toilet!

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

(grin) You overestimate my knowledge of bathrooms. I was totally unaware for instance that the wall behind the vanity had been tiled until they took it out, and I thought it a waste of labour. 'No one's going to see there!' Though I suppose now I'll be fretting that one of the tiles behind the new vanity is chipped...