Minor catastrophes

I have recently had the opportunity to do comparative grossness analysis. I can conclusively state that I find fleas to be more disgusting than sewage. You never know where fleas are going to appear next - on your pillow? on your dinner plate? - but you know exactly where sewage is (all over the bathroom floor and filling the tub) and what to do about it (call the landlord, stat).

It is awfully nice to have Andrew around. I forgot that being in a partnership means not only lovey-dovey stuff but also having a person to share the load when minor catastrophes occur. Just as we got the fleas under control (in physicist terms, I'd say we're in a steady-state situation), our drains backed up again. Hence the sewage filling the bathroom. This is the second time this has happened in the past year, and it's because a large banyan tree (you know, those enormous, strangling fig trees) found the drain pipe and discovered a rich food source. Its roots clog the pipe and so it will have to come down. The resulting situation was yucky but the landlord got a plumber in quickly with a temporary fix, so we have running (and draining) water again.

I really do love old houses, and I'm glad we live in a house that's been around since the 1920's. Our house is full of character (i.e. rooms that aren't quite square and ceilings that aren't quite level), and I enjoy that. But I also enjoy having a landlord who deals with all the mishaps associated with an old house.