Tuesday, May 2, 2000

Found out the hard way that the hot water went away this morning. Later found the note from the SSH (housing office) that a housemate had left on the windowsill saying that the hot water would be going away again for another two days this week while the interminably slow repairmen have another go at yet another leak. And, again, no attempts to provide us with any alternative for showering. At least I got in a minimal shower with a tiny bit of hot water today, and I'll just try to avoid getting any exercise until Thursday morning.

I'm now very glad that European washing machines heat their own water. I definitely needed to do a load of laundry, and the lack of hot water isn't affecting the laundry at all.

Also found out that it may be next week before the money that we paid for the phone is actually counted into the phone meter, which means, I think, one email exchange per day until the phone meter is recharged, and no diary updates.

Went for a short walk (about 3 pm) and found the repairs; they had to excavate under a building and appear to be replacing a piece of pipe. As usual, one person inside working, and three people outside supervising. I just hope they can finish fixing it within two hours--whether or not it is done, they leave at 5 pm sharp, or maybe a little earlier to beat traffic, as we found out last week... Appears to be the laid-back Dutch approach to emergency repairs.

Went out for Greek food tonight. The gyros here, or at least at this restaurant, are different from what I'm used to in the US. It was served as strips of pork, rather than slices of sausage-like stuff. It was quite good. Kim ordered their souvlaki special and accidentally got the mixed grill, which was essentially everything in the special she ordered, plus a bit extra. The baklava was quite good; the honey was mild, the portion was large, and it was served with whipped cream, which offset the sweetness of the honey very well.

And we do have hot water again.