Time for repair by proxy

"Excuse me, but it's raining in my bathroom!" If you're a hard-working nurse that may not be what you want to hear on your Wednesday evening, but it had to be said.

In recent times I had sometimes been confronted with a soaking bath mat. The first time I had just dismissed that as something for which there must be a logical and quite non-urgent reason, and, to be honest, maybe also the second time, but when it happened again I figured some investigation was in order. It wasn't anything to do with my plumbing, as far as I could see. So I looked up. To a stained ceiling! And the staining was recent. I had the culprit. So I phoned the landlord.

Then, for a while, nothing happened; no discernible action from the landlord, but no leaking ceilings either. Until I came home Wednesday evening. The water worryingly came down the bathroom lamp, and had already made quite a puddle. So I immediately walked up the stairs, to see if perhaps the upstairs neighbour was doing something watery. She answered, somewhat disturbed, in her dressing gown. And wasn't aware of anything amiss...

This is not what it's supposed to look like!

Closer scrutiny revealed water next to her washing machine, which she had just used. The water evidently immediately leaked into my house without leaving much of a trace in hers! So therefore she had never noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Diagnosing the problem, though, is one thing. Solving it is another. As I said; she's a hardworking nurse, and she doesn't have much time to stay home and show repairmen the way. But I trust she'll manage. And then I can enjoy a dry bathroom again...