Arriving home from work, I knew straight away there was a big problem with our house. Somehow, over the last seven hours, our house went fro
m a common building in suburbia to a water park. Spouts of water were coming out of the house’s wooden structure and even the lawn looked to be littered with invisible sprinklers.
My neighbour and council member Todd came storming out of his own house, computer in hand. I quickly tried to subdue his frustration by saying that I was about to call up some Melbourne drain repair specialists but he just ignored me. He started to shove his computer in my face, going on about how I needed to fill out this paperwork and get council approval to install a waterpark in a residential area.
I told him that this was not an intentional setup and that something was wrong with my plumbing, and that I needed to get someone to come and fix it for me. Todd began to say something about fines when he finally processed what I had just said. He said “Oh”, thought for a moment and then laughed at me. Through snickers, he told me I better get it fixed then, before the neighbourhood kids came out, and not in the way he did eleven years ago. I thanked him for his help sarcastically, and Todd’s expression changed to a frown.
After a pause, he said that the water had been going for about two hours now and that I needed to book a boundary trap replacement in Melbourne just to be on the safe side. As he turned around and walked away, he said that I should also turn off the main water source as soon as I could, before I turned our court into a lazy river. While I appreciated the advice, I could have done without the attitude. Thanks a lot, Todd.