The Trip — 2016: Part 13 — David’s Family Arrives; More Plumbing

David, Di’s brother, and his family (Ivy and their two girls, Lola and Cara) arrived a little after two Sunday afternoon just as we were finishing lunch. A quick tour of the villa, a bite to eat and drink and the girls changed and headed for the pool — where they are playing as I type.

Trip - Fun in the pool.
Fun in the pool.

Helen made some lemonade and David, after spending some time with his girls in the pool, trotted down the hill to another taverna with televisions — think sports bar — to watch some of the Wimbledon Men’s Final and the Euro 2016 Final between Portugal and France. I may drop in later, but Trish wants me for “mule” service as we need more bottled water with ten of us here. (And, do I really need to watch another sports event on television and have another beer or two? Well, maybe the beer.)

Trish, Ivy, the girls and I walked down to the taverna and walked in just as match point arrived and Murray won Wimbledon. We had a drink, left and did a bit of shopping before returning to our villa.

David and I watched the end of the first half and the second half of the Euro 2016 final between Portugal and France on Greek (in Greek) television after dinner. Gahd, what a boring game — two teams trying not to lose rather than trying to win. Eventually, in overtime, Portugal won 1 – 0.

Kit, Trish’s son, was supposed to arrive a bit after ten in the evening and did arrive around eleven-thirty.

Trip - Fun in the pool, too.
Fun in the pool, too.

Monday was uneventful, until after 11:00 pm, that is. Kit comes running up from his room and “says” that his bathroom is flooding — he can’t shut off the water in his shower. Get Joe is the consensus. So Joe goes down stairs and takes a look.

Yes, the bathroom is beginning to flood. No, Joe cannot shut off the water. But . . . Joe does take the shower hose and hangs it out of the open window and the threat of flooding is now over. Hmmmm . . . what to do?

Well, let’s see what the real problem is. Hot water faucet . . . hot water turns off. Cold water faucet . . . cold water faucet just keeps on turning. At least we now know where the problem is.

However, we don’t know where the water shut-off valve is, although I suspect it is behind the panel next to the loo (toilet) — there is a similar panel in all of the other bathrooms. Emergency call to the villa’s owner. Yes, the shut-off is next to the loo (please remember, everyone I’m with is British). Kit turns off the water valve next to the loo — No, Kit, that’s the water valve for the loo, not the one for the sink and shower.

The valve panel is held on by two large Phillips-head screws — screws that have been painted over, on and into the panel. Besides, I don’t have access to any tools, even a screwdriver. Hmmm . . . time to get a dinner/butter knife.

I run up to the kitchen and get a knife. A minute later the screws are off and the Panel is open. There are eight connections behind the panel, nothing is labeled and there is only one RED valve handle. I try to turn the handle — no go — it’s frozen shut. Meanwhile, water is still gushing out the showerhead hose outside the window.

Trip - Greek to me.
Greek to me.

The owners’ mother shows up — she lives closer than the owner. She looks at the problem and tries to close the valve and has no more luck than I had. She, however, has a key to the maintenance shed and returns with a 10-inch crescent wrench — and has no more success than we’d had with our hands. She now uses the wrench as a hammer and after several bangs has the valve handle loosened sufficiently to turn off the water.

It is now after midnight and close to one. She phones her daughter and explains the situation. Daughter will bring a new shower set when she comes to clean later in the morning and will have a plumber install it while she is here. Oh, in addition, she is told by another of us that the AC in David and Ivy’s bedroom isn’t working properly and is dripping water. Yes, she will have the electrician over too.

Ahhh . . . time to go to bed.

(to be continued)