running water

So, I just washed dishes in my kitchen sink. And I was pretty excited about it... I mean, I was almost celebratory. If I had champanade, I would've drank some! It's been a week... yes, a full week, since we had water running and draining in our kitchen. And, it's one of those luxuries you never think about.

See, our kitchen is in our basement, and our house is built on a hill, so underneath the kitchen is just a big gap. You can actually crawl up in there (it is bricked in and it has a door on it, but... you know). And, it's not exactly insulated in there. At all. So, when it got down to -18 celcius last week, boom, everything froze. Well, actually, the drain froze first. Then, when I couldn't leave the water dripping from the tap, the water froze too. Yesterday it warmed up, and all of the sudden I heard my hot water heater kick in fiercely. I hoped that it meant that my pipes were open again, but it turned out that it just meant that my hot water pipe had split. Big time... Anyway, the landlord -- and he's a good one -- sent the plumber, who promptly had things back up and running.

It is funny, though, the things that we take for granted. I watched a video where Mr. Cuthill recorded Matt and Ruth show how they heat water. It involved a fire and a big metal container. Folks, we are blessed.