To Cut a Long Story Short

by Stavros Allanopolis

  Previously we had measured it and the water was leaking out through the exterior wall below the floor level of the inside of the house.

  On the morning of the 20th August, I awoke as usual at around 06.00am, and set about my ‘routine’. The routine consists of making a cup of tea, feeding the cats and sitting on the upstairs terrace to drink my tea and take in the stark beauty of the Taygetos Mountains ranging behind the house, and watch the sun come up over the tip of the highest peak.

  So, following the usual routine, I opened the bedroom door, crept out and gently closed it behind me so as not to wake Valerie. I went to the kitchen to put the kettle on. I then went into the front bedroom to get the food ready for the cats’ breakfast. I opened the door to the front bedroom, stepped inside and promptly went arse over head as I slipped on the water which was pooling across the floor!

  “What the … ? ! ! ,” I exclaimed, dragging myself into an upright position.

  I surveyed the scene before me. The whole floor was under two centimetres of water. This was a proper leak!

  First examination revealed that it had seeped up from under the floor and through the grouting of the tiles. The leak was below ground!

  Was this a new leak, or could it be the original leak that had just escalated?

  I mopped up the water, and inspected the damage; Mostly to the wood at the base of the bookcase. As I stood there inspecting the room, I noticed that the water was seeping through floor the tiles at the base of the wall between the bathroom and the bedroom. So, it seemed likely that the leak was in the bathroom somewhere and was travelling left to right with the slope of the floor.

  To cut a long story short …. The house is not level, but you can read about that in my first book – ‘It Started With An Ouzo’ in the section on inspecting the house.

  So, the first thing to do was to switch the water off, and start investigating. Clearly, drinking my cup of tea up on the terrace would have to wait!

  I woke Valerie up, explained what I discovered, and told her that I would take up some floor tiles to see if I could locate the leak. I had six spare tiles, so I told her that I would start with the four tiles located above the junction box where the water pipes and drainage pipes connected.

  TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT ....

  …. Stavros Discovered A Leak - But Not The Leak!

  I dug away and found a leaking joint. I fixed the leak and everything seemed ok. I said to Valerie that I would leave it for 48 hours to thoroughly dry out before re-tiling.

  The next morning, I discovered that the hole that I had dug in the bathroom floor in order to find the junction box was full of water. The leak was either not fixed or there was another one.

  To cut a long story short …. I called Daniel a builder and plumber, and he found six more leaks before he discovered the leak!

  Some 10 days later, Daniel discovered the real cause of the leak! Although he was in the middle of a property renovation, at the end of his day he came to Meerkat Manor. He worked tirelessly each afternoon and into the early evening trying to find the root cause of the leak. He worked his way across the floor, starting from my original excavation point. He kept digging, and the water kept leaking!

  As each day went by, he found and fixed a leak. Each night he left the bathroom dry, but by the following morning water was appearing again! He then located and fixed these leaks, and it looked like it was the end of the leaks.

  Fixing the leaks that he discovered along the way, he eventually came to the wall on the opposite side of the bathroom from where I had started the inspection. Finally he had dug three holes in the wall around the shower taps and discovered more leaking joints.

  By this stage, I knew that we would need to re-tile the whole bathroom as we had broken up more tiles than I had spare as replacements. This was going to be expensive, and a cost that we had not budgeted for!

  He decided that the leak must be in the wall somewhere!

  Pressing his ear to the wall tiles, he commenced listening to see what he could hear.

  “Aha!” He declared. “I can hear a hissing sound behind this tile (three tiles to the left of the shower taps)”.

  He started breaking tiles off the wall. After the first two had been removed, no leak was apparent. With renewed vigour, he broke another tile off the wall and water started spouting out. A whole ‘gusher’ was revealed!

  He turned off the mains supply to inspect his discovery.

  Photo: The Leaking Joint Revealed At Last

  He determined that Georges (the original plumber – you remember him? “… it will dry.”) had joined two pipes together behind the tile. Instead of a straight line, he had bent the pipes into a curve of sorts at the joint, and the joint was leaking badly. As the tiles had only been ‘spot fixed’ to the wall, there was a cavity behind the tile for the water to run down and thence under the bathroom floor tiles.

  Over time, the water had soaked the foundation and, finding its own level at its weakest spot, had seeped out of the external wall.

  Clearly, this was the drip we had spotted on day one! The leak had been continuous for over three years, and had eventually saturated the foundations and started to work its way outwards and upwards. This was the reason the water came up.

  “Let’s leave it like this for a week to be sure. If it is still dry, then I will re-tile the bathroom and the floor,” Daniel advised.

  You can imagine our relief when the bathroom remained dry after one week. Daniel insisted on leaving it for another two weeks in total for it to dry out properly before tackling the task of a re-build. Eventually, Daniel said that it was time to re-build and re-tile the bathroom. He decided to send his friend Darek to do the job.

  TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT ….

  .... We Had No Bathroom For Six Weeks!

  Some six weeks then, after the first discovery of the leak, we had a (new) bathroom to use once more. Thank goodness we had the small shower room upstairs; imagine otherwise!

  P.S. There is a Post Script to this adventure; scalding hot water!

  We have solar powered water heating panels installed on the roof of the Mani Tower to supply the hot water for the house. When we first moved into Meerkat Manor, the water was always hot. We thought it was the strength and effectiveness of the panels and the system.

  Not the case! We discovered that the immersion heater had been left on 24 hours per day for the first eight weeks! We had not noticed because the switch was located on the secondary fuse box installed upstairs. Who by? None other than Georges!

  We turned the heater off. Thereafter the water was very hot in the day, because it was being heated by the sun through the panels. However, the water was not hot first thing in the morning. All those years previously we just accepted that and got on with living, because it soon started to heat up as the sun got hotter throughout each day, and by evening it was very hot.

  Daniel explained that because the water tank to the solar panel system was gravity fed, the hot water must have been draining out with the leak continuously; 24/7 for over three years. As the hot water drained out it would be replaced by the cold water fed into the tank from the mains supply.

  Hence saturated foundations and only warmish water first thing in the morning; every morning for over three years!

  But not anymore!

  The very first morning after Daniel had fixed the leak, I turned the tap on at the kitchen sink to do the washing up, and my ‘discovery’ was a real ‘wake up’ call! I almost scalded my hands as the water was so hot! Because none of the heated water from the day before had drained away and escaped during the night, the tank contained fully solar heated water. As the tank is fully insulated, the water stays hot; VERY hot!

  To cut a long story short …. We went to see Giannis (the builder) and suggested that he didn’t use Georges any more, and to also tell Georges not to visit Meerkat Manor again - ever!

  TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT ….

  …. Water Is A Major Problem At Meerkat
Manor

  So by now (end of September 2011) Stavros and Valerie were thinking that they could get back to normal at Meerkat Manor.

  The garden called out for attention and also for some changes needed to be made in the water irrigation system. Some pipes needed to be diverted to water different plants.

  Whilst Stavros was completing this task, he noticed that the external water pump that fed the irrigation system was not working properly. In fact, as he worked on the piping system, it stopped working altogether.

  On that day, he decided not to drive into Kalamata to get a new one but rather go to see Dimitris at the builder’s yard to see if he had one that he could buy. If he had, it may be a few Euros more expensive than in Kalamata but he would save a three hour round trip and probably 15 Euros in petrol for the journey.

  “Kalimera Starvros. What can I do for you?”

  I explained that I needed a new pump.

  He had two in stock. One new and one that he used in his factory which I could buy for less money than the new one.

  I took the new one.

  A few hours later and I had fitted and connected the new pump. I switched it on and it immediately blew all the fuses in the house!

  Humph! What the … !!

  I took it all to pieces and then proceeded to re-fit and re-connect. Maybe I had done something wrong? After all, I am not a Plumber or Electrician.

  Same result. Same result after four attempts!

  Finally, I took the pump back to Dimitris to explain what was happening.

  “I’ll get Nikos my Electrician to look at it for you. Please take it back, re-connect and I’ll send him.”

  Duly re-connected, I waited for Nikos to arrive.

  48 hours later he arrived!

  He examined it, tested it and he too blew all the fuses!

  He didn’t speak a lot of English, so by sign language and one English expression only, he explained that the pump was,

  “No good.”

  Back to Dimitris.

  “Well Stavros, take the used pump and see if that works and I will order a new one to replace the one that Nikos says has a fault.”

  Process of connection repeated. Same result!

  Back to Dimitris.

  This was getting very tedious and time consuming.

  “Stavros, I have ordered a new one.”

  “When will it arrive?”

  Remember his most used expression? Well, he did reply with it,

  “Maybe tomorrow, Stavros.”

  Tomorrow? Tomorrow came and went and every day for the next two weeks I went to see Dimitris to see where my new pump was.

  The list of excuses was endless! Worst of all, during that time I had been to Kalamata twice and could have bought the new pump instead of waiting. Also, during that time it meant that I had to water all the plants by hand; every day!

  But hey! This is Greece.

  More to the point, I felt that I couldn’t ask for my money back as it would have caused a problem between us, and I know that I will always need his help going forward.

  Eventually the new pump arrived and it worked first time ‘out of the box’.

  Now Stavros could get back to upgrading the irrigation system.

  TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT ….

  …. Sales Of ‘Watching The Olives Grow’ Started To Take Off

  By now, the second book had been printed and delivered and the pre-order copies delivered. Once again, I was invited to attend the lunch for ‘Body and Mind’ and to talk about ‘Watching The Olives Grow’. Once again I raffled one copy for the Fadderfriends Charity and sold quite a few more copies to those who attended the lunch.

  To date 2011 had been an expensive year; unbudgeted expense. So, it was good to hear from my Client to ask if I could go to Athens again to work for them.

  Client: “Stuart, can you come to work with us next month?”

  Stavros: “I am not sure. Let me see what I have on the calendar. When did you say? Let me look.”

  Stavros sits holding the phone and silently counts to 20 …….

  Stavros replies: “Yes, I can move a few things around and fit you in on the dates that you have requested.”

  Work will save the day ! ! !

  This was salvation in terms of financial support to pay for the new toilet and shower room.

  TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT ….

  …. Stavros Changes His Name To ‘Goldfinger’!

  The October day came when it was time for me to go to Athens to work with the Client’s team and to help them improve their skills in Communication and Team Working.

  I set off in good spirits. It was a bright, sunny day and there was no traffic on the roads, and there was the prospect of the bills being paid.

  Life was good!

  Wrong!

  Life was about to change for the worse!

  There I was cruising along the country road and making my way up to the mountain road and then on to the motorway to Athens. Then, ‘bang!’ My front right tyre had exploded.

  I came to a stop and got out to inspect. There was a large hole in the wall of the tyre. I must have run over something sharp although I did not feel anything until the explosion.

  I changed the wheel and put on the ‘get you home / 50 kph maximum speed’ wheel and set off again. My plan was to stop at Tripoli and source a new tyre and then continue on to Athens.

  In Tripoli, I found a garage and they had one tyre left in stock that fitted the car. Fitting complete, I set upon my way again and realised that I had incurred even more unbudgeted expense.

  I was booked to work for two days. Day one went well and I returned to the hotel feeling happy.

  The following day, I also woke up in good spirits and I was ready to work and then to return to Meerkat Manor, secure in the knowledge that I would soon get paid and settle all the bills owing and maybe pay off the credit card balance outstanding.

  Wrong!

  The day was about to get bad; very bad, and incur even more use of the credit card!

  I had packed my case and had gone to the door of the room to leave. I opened the door and put my bag down to keep it open whilst I went back into the room to check that I had not left anything behind. Returning to the door, I bent down to pick the bag up and then realised that I had left the card key in the electrical connection holder. So, I reached back in to retrieve the card and just as I was pulling it out to put it in my pocket the bag moved and the door slammed shut.

  Ouch!

  The metal door closed into the metal frame and with my little finger in between the two!

  My response was an expletive!

  I opened the door and retrieved my finger. It was bleeding profusely and didn’t look too good. In fact there was blood everywhere and the finger looked an odd shape. The blood was on the room carpet, door and walls, and also on the hall carpet and walls; a real mess!

  I seemed to go on ‘auto pilot’ as I went back into the room and into the bathroom to get a towel to wrap around my hand to stop the blood dripping.

  My hand and finger hurt like hell as I descended to the Reception Desk and said to the man on the other side of it,

  “Hi! The door closed on my finger. Do you have a First Aid Kit? Can you please tell me where the nearest hospital is?”

  “Sir, please take your hand off the desk as the blood is making marks.” Can the surly reply. “I’ll see if I can get you a plaster.”

  This was not going too well!

  “No, don’t bother,” I retorted, “Let me sign my bill and make sure you report this complaint in the Accident Book. I’ll be back!”

  I left the hotel, got into the car, still with my arm wrapped in the towel which was now deep crimson.

  The plan was to drive to the nearest hospital. I decided to drive to my clients as I remembered there being a red cross / hospital sign on the building next door.

  The injury was to my right hand, so I had to turn the ignition key with my left hand across and under the stee
ring wheel column and also to select and change gear leaning across my body; not easy but so far so good.

  What happens next is a real ‘roller coaster’ of activity.

  First, there were no parking spaces available in the hospital car park. So I drove into the adjoining Garden Centre and gave the owner 5 euros and asked if I could park in his car parking area.

  I parked the car; hard work reversing and steering one handed and in pain! I then walked into the reception area of the hospital, and I walked up to what appeared to be the Reception Desk. Behind the desk was a man in a white coat and with a stethoscope around his neck. I decided that this work wear indicated that he might be a Doctor.

  “Hello. I have had an accident. My hand is injured and bleeding profusely and hurts. Can anyone help me please?”

  “Yes.”

  He looked at the blood soaked towel and said

  “Tell me what happened.”

  I explained, and he replied,

  “We take credit cards, which one do you want to deposit with us?” and he turned to the side of the desk where on the wall were all the popular decals of the card issuing companies.

  At this point I realised that I was in a private hospital!

  The world renowned branding expression came to mind ….

  “ ….. and for everything else there is MasterCard!”

  I handed over my card.

  “Please enter your PIN and I will arrange for a nurse to see you and clean you up.”

  Job done, the nurse cleaned me up and took me back to the Doctor.

  “Card and PIN please and I will arrange for a Doctor to examine you.”

  This was followed by,

  “Card and PIN please and I will send you for an X-ray.”

  Remember, this is all part of the ‘Dream’ life’ ( ! ! ).

  Next came an examination of the X-ray. Two broken bones were clearly visible.

  “Card and PIN please and will send you to the Hand Doctor.”

  The card was showing signs of fatigue, but I had come too far to stop the process of getting treatment for my injured finger.

  As stood waiting for the card to be returned, I looked to the other side of the desk (opposite the credit card decals), and there was a sign declaring that the hospital had a ‘Hand Trauma Unit.’ Well, it seemed that by default that I had arrived at just the right place.