Whoosh!

Last night things seemed to be falling in place. I was at my computer upstairs. My wife was watching televison downstairs. I was on top of my tasks. All was right in the world.

Then it began.

That sound. That unseen-force-whooshing sound.

That sound that means that an upstairs clean-water valve has given way and water is going everywhere, underneath things and through things.

We ran outside to the water shut-off valve. It was buried underground, having receded over the years nearer to oblivion.

We grabbed shovels and dug and dug by our little holly bushes. Finally, after an endless eternity, I hit paydirt. I got the water off.

We have responsive plumbers. They got to our house in minutes, fixed the problems, and then restored the water service.

They also called the water damage mitigation experts. They arrived later, and began setting up the massive fans and machinery to try to head off and mitigate any damage.

I fell asleep late last night to the sound of drone.

Now we'll have to go through days or weeks of pulling up and drying out and fixing and declaring lost and upheaval. We will have to replace some things. Some other things were fine. We are fine. Our dog is fine. We'll come out of this with fixes to wall and floor,and with plumbing once more restored.

But though the experience is character-building, my recommendation as to the experience
is "avoid it".