11.30pm last night: everything fine. Time for bed.
1.30am: heavy rain, so I clear the drain grilles outside the flat to be on the safe side.
1.31am: notice power is out.
1.35am: London Electricity inform me it’s my problem, not a power cut. Fusebox trip-switch won’t set back to on, even with each switch checked individually.
Approximately one hour of sleep later…
6am: get up. Notice mat behind front door is under a centimetre of water. Mild panic.
6.01am: Notice carpet is soaking wet in several places in the living room.
6.10am: Notice wet patches are getting bigger and wetter. Also notice that the floorboards are moving as I walk over the carpet, and that something is sloshing underneath them.
6.11am: Moving floorboards/sloshing sound now in every room of the flat. Water seeping up all over the living room.
Frantic movement to clear everything off the floor.
7am: Futile search for stopcock abandoned. It’s outside somewhere. Is this rain, sewage or a burst water main?
7.10am: Informed by Thames Water that it isn’t their problem. No leaks reported, and chances are its a burst water main under the flat floor.
7.11am: landlord’s phone number produces “I’m sorry, but the number you have dialled has not been recognised” message. Repeatedly. Plumber’s number not answered. Floorboards now undulating slightly with watery noise. Panic.
And there we have my morning. Exhausting. I had no phone or electricity (both back now, but for how long?), no plumber, no idea. Since then the water’s subsided a bit, but the landlord (when he arrived) hasn’t been able to find any broken pipes.
What price on another wet night tonight?
