Tuesday, May 15, 2012

THREE-RING CIRCUS -- in the nude

THREE-RING CIRCUS -- in the nude

Well, that would be me.

 I haven't heard ANY whispers at all about it, and it all happened during the afternoon siesta time when everyone is pretty much asleep in a hammock, so maybe I got through it without stirring up the gossip mill.

I had just come back from the beach after a wild sesh on my boogie-board (those were some wild, strong-current waves -- rollercoaster rides).   I headed out to our new fancy shower.  It is truly a classy, clover-leaf shaped masterpiece, painted with smooth non-slip blue swimming pool paint -- designed and constructed by Robert.  It also has a "rain"-style showerhead which Robert also made from scratch.. NOTE:  Inside, it is like a 3-leaf clover/each side is bowed out;  you can see one such  side in  this photo.  It is so elegant.



I closed the cloth curtain, hung up my sarong, and turned the little thingie that opens up the flow of water.  I was just luxuriating in the gentle, wide flow of water as it fell from directly overhead, when...   just moments later...   the whole damned pvc pipe blew off and clattered to the floor.

Now -- all that water was gushing, uncontrolled, straight out horizontally -- like a firehose -- and ricocheting wildly off the opposite curved wall.  Quickly it flooded the shower stall floor.  Its very force pulled down the shower curtain, and my towel,  and my sarong, setting them all adrift in a moving lake of water... which was now flowing out of the shower stall, across the ramada floor and cascading down into the yard.

Overhead, is a humongous water tank -- it holds 660 gallons!  It was now empyting out -- and I was alone.  Robert was off in some dry jungly area cutting more wood for his furniture projects and not due to return any time soon  -- certainly not soon enough to help, that's for sure.

¿What to do?

Three-ring circus time.

First; standing directly below the torrent overhead, I tried reinserting the pvc pipe, but the resultant splaying diffusion of such forceful water made me feel like I was drowning....

Next, I grabbed a limp, wadded up, soaking wet sarong and tried to cover some part of me (HA!  YOU try it and you'll know how successful I was), and ran outside, hoping to find a stop-cock around the back of the shower...  ...crazy gringa, running around naked like a chicken with her head cut off.

No stop-cock (and I am ignoring any bad puns/double entendres here.)

This is where I was running around naked--Robert is now inspecting the connections afterwards -- (and by the way, this ramada is still under construction:  retainer walls will be cemented smooth; poles will be finished/painted, arches put in place, simple kitchen/sink/fridge added, hammocks hung...)



Well, thought I,  (while grabbing at the sopping towel to try, yet again unsuccessfully,  to cover my nakedness -- and you had to be there to see the silliness of these dancing attempts at modesty with dripping wet cloth that clung to itself better than to me)... maybe there's another solution.

Yes! thought I,  maybe there is a stop-cock on the water tank itself -- up there on the roof -- better go look.  So, off I went, out from under the roof and  into the open yard so that I could look up there.  Fortunately for me, if you think about it, I couldn't see one.  How did I think I was going to get UP on the roof?

Throughout, I was still struggling to cover even some part of me (what is the most modest part? what matters to the folks of this village?), and failing hilariously.   At the same time, I was wading through a torrent of water issuing out of the shower stall.

Okay, then... moving on.  My goal now, was to get back inside that hurricane... to try once again to cut it off at its source.

This time, I was approaching the overhead, horizontal torrent of water, from a different angle, where there was less splashback blinding me.  This time, I was successful.  This time, I was able to force the smaller pipe back into the larger pipe.  The torrent stopped.

Not even a drip from the showerhead, which was in shut-off mode and now back in place.

When Robert returned, I was reclining in a hammock, utterly relaxed.  I told him of my circus antics, and  he was NOT surprised.  He told me that in fact,  he was waiting for the tank to be emptied so he could properly seal the pvc pipe in place.  Work in progress.  No harm done.
(You can see here what blew off--from the red turn-handle forward --the entire showerhead--and the water was gushing forcefully out...)





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