Water Water Everywhere.....

...but not a drop at the apartment!

Husband had flown to New York for a memorial service and I was looking forward to settling into three days of self indulgent food and downloaded Strictly. I had already watched one show and was about to make some dinner. Turning on the tap in the kitchen, nothing. Not a drop came out of the fake steel contraption. I sighed remembering how this had happened before and pottered about the flat. Half an hour later, no change. After two hours of this, I started to feel fretful. I phoned my new friend Linda the glamorous and outrageously funny South African on the floor above and she had the same issue. Clearly, this was now a whole building crisis and not an apartment problem! Cold comfort. Next, I called Alisha, my Arabic speaking American neighbour from floor 1. She also had no water and had ordered some but had no idea where to get any information. By now, I was getting to that tearful exasperated stage. How long was this going to last? Would it be back in the night? If not in the morning, how do I get ready for the morning? Somehow, I managed to make and eat some dinner with a few bottles of bottled water (well done husband for having stocked up on that!) and even washed up! For a girl who had always refused to go camping and ape being a refugee under canvas in the name of good outdoor fun, I astonished myself and realised why I had never gone camping!! I certainly would not be reconsidering at this stage in my life. By 9.30 pm I had called ‘Mrs Barrie’ and asked to stay over at her place if water was not back by 10pm. It was not. She in turn calls to say her fridge had packed up! She was going to take her freezer stock to another friend and colleague from school and would pick me up at the apartment on the way. Half an hour later, she changes her mind as her driver could not send a taxi until way past 11pm! I decided to grab a taxi from the end of my road and head out. Before departing, I decided to see if my Arabic speaking neighbours were any wiser as to what was happening. And they were! Two girls at a neighbouring apartment who spoke a competent level of English told me work had been in progress on the nearby metro and a major pipe had been ‘cut’! Very serious apparently. No water for FOUR DAYS! My look must have spoken volumes! They added, ‘you have water? We can give you bottles’. I graciously refused wanting to say, ‘not necessary. I am now finally leaving the country!’ But leave the apartment I did. I took my small suitcase packed for three days and marched up the road cursing the place. At the end of the road, there seemed to be a road block! There were police and cars were being stopped and questions asked. Amidst this chaos, a taxi pulled up. I hopped in and told him the street, pointing in the barred direction we had to go. He knowingly said, ‘no road, another way’...I nodded and off we went. After a short while, I thought, we’re not headed anywhere near where we need to go! I told him the roundabout we had to get to. His words were, ‘you know? I don’t know.’  My usual patience had evaporated by this point and I said, ‘you taxi driver. You know!’ He must have been taken aback by my bark and replied, ‘ok ok Madame’. After this, he stopped in the middle of a roundabout and asked another driver. We eventually got to the roundabout I needed and then I directed him to Mrs Barrie’s abode. As I wheeled my suitcase to the front of the building, I saw her give a bag to her Boab. She intercepted me and said there was no point in holding onto the goods as she had no idea when the fridge would get fixed. She’d also had a water scare earlier as her hot water supply seemed to have stopped at one point! We commiserated our states and sat down with a cup of tea. At this point, her eyes widened and she said,’ oh my God, I’ve given the bacon and the sausages to the Bohab!’ (Islamic) I remarked, he may notice and bring them back. Alternatively, he may mistake them for veal and eat them regardless! Either way, nothing came back over the next three days!! As we sat and shared our day’s toils on her balcony overlooking lovely trees, I envied her the outside space. It was truly relaxing. As we chattered, the Boab turned up with a man to fix the fridge. At least things got done when one does see the Boab! I hardly ever saw mine!

Early the following morning, Linda sent a text saying, ‘Good news, Mr Water is back!’ I sighed that I could go home later. That morning, I shared a taxi with Mrs Barrie and lovely ‘Bridget Jones’. She shared her lack of water stories, but none had gone on for anymore than two days. Just my luck! The drive to school was the usual traffic nightmare. At one point, we seemed to be driving through a flooded street! The taxi slowed right down. I thought, ‘no, not now!’ Mrs Barrie remarked there was something wrong with the car. The driver said he had washed his car that morning. I thought, ‘has he damaged the engine or something?’ At this point Bridget said, ‘oh, he doesn’t want to get his car dirty!’ That was exactly it!!! How he thought he could avoid the filthy splashing of the other cars was beyond me! What pride!

 That afternoon, heart in my mouth, I went back home after school to check if water was indeed back. The Site Supervisor said she had heard about the water problem on her TV. She anticipated all would be fixed the following day! I was reluctant to be so optimistic. She commented maybe water would be on briefly in the mornings to help the residents get ready, and then switched off again for repairs!! As I walked into the building, it was in darkness. No power. A woman was wondering around the foyer looking cross. I asked her if she had water. She said, ‘very little and now no electricity. Best to stay out!’ I agreed with a smile. I walked up the stairs, entered the apartment and went to the small bathroom to turn on the tap....indeed Apartment Wadi it still was! As advised, I left shortly after with a huge Mango which was beautifully ripening. That would be my comfort food for the evening. At the Barrie’s, they were flat hunting as their dodgy landlord Captain Hook, the greasy Pirate had practically told them to leave after they pointed out the lift to the building should be available for all tenants to go up and... down! He seemed to be under the impression the lift was for him and his tenants could go up but not down! There was even a notice on the lift saying, ‘For the privte use of landlord’ in his best Egyptlish! The Barries had been looking for a few days and were rather disheartened at the quantity of hovels they had been shown! That evening, Mrs Barrie had found a rather expensive place in a lovely quiet leafy area. The Embassy as she called it overlooked the Sudanese Residence’s garden. They shared some photos with me and I wished I could move in straight away if it had reliable water supply. Being in that area, they would not get the blasting from the mosque and water issues would get resolved quicker as there were diplomats’ residence involved!

Day three, returned to find no water in the apartment. Again, went back to the Barrie’s. Day four -returned after breakfast to find the front lawn sprinklers on! I practically sprinted to the apartment! Apartment Wadi no more!! In my moment of jubilation, I loaded the washing machine and switched it on to hear the swishing sound of water!! Husband returned from his NY trip later and showered!!  Joy! That evening, we enjoyed our dinner and looked forward to a lazy morning before heading off on our Nile Cruise....9pm that night; I sauntered into the bathroom, turned on the tap and no water!!!!! How were we going to get ready in the morning?!  With my head in my hands, I wanted to cry. Again, I headed off to bed in a state of stress....The following morning when I awoke, all seemed normal. However, by 9am, back to the fiasco. We had collected some water in buckets, so managed ablutions and washing up. Husband tried to ring the water company but both times, they hung up as they spoke no English. I then had the idea of asking an Arabic speaking TA from school to call the water board.   She did the job and was told, 12.00pm maximum.  She herself was not hopeful and advised us to do what we had to do with our buckets!  At noon, I switched on the taps and hallelujah... Water!!! By now, we were ready to go...to the Nile, where there would see constant water for 7 days and hopefully be supplied with it in our hotel and on our boat! The sheer thought of it cheered me along...Now I was finally in holiday mood!