Water Water Everywhere

Everything in my place is wearing out, that includes me incidentally, won't subject you to the gory details.  On a less gory note, managed to resurrect my vacuum yesterday.  Following 'burny' smell, and after checking usual filter, did a little more digging (through the dust) and unearthed a 'secret compartment' and discovered a whole host of dust in there, maybe why it hasn't been picking up recently?  After cleaning out 'secret compartment' it picked up a treat.

On Friday, I stripped my bed and stuck a wash load in, when then cycle finished, the bedding was dripping wet.  Two spin cycles later, it was still as wet and after my success with the vacuum, I set about reading the instruction manual for the washing machine.  Undid the lint catcher thingummy and it was fine, apart from the now blackened twenty pence piece I found in there.  Next, I had to check the pipes at the back of the machine, machine was off at the wall and so I undid one of the pipes, water immediately came out. 

At first I thought it was just water in the pipe, but then it gushed, stone cold water pumping out of this pipe.  I head for the stopcock  but it won't turn, I try WD40 and rubber gloves for extra grip, it won't turn.  I'm not known for my upper body strength so I knock for the two male neighbours that I know... no answer. 

After 45 minutes of cold water gushing from this pipe and my water meter counter going into overdrive, I manage to get hold of Bee, just back from church.

In about fifteen minutes, Bee's at mine and unable to to turn the stopcock also, she manages to turn it off at the wall, something I did try but coudn't manage.

I am soaked, clothes, hair, everything.  The fingers on my right hand, thumb, fleshy part under the thumb, are all red and swollen from attempting to turn the stopcock with all of my mite.  My left arm, 4" up from my wrist then upwards to my elbow is swollen and bruised and hot from it being scraped against the shelf while I tried to turn off the stopcock.  The kitchen is strewn with saturated towels.

If I'm a singleton then fine, if I have to be self sufficient, self reliant... fine, but I really hate being defeated by things like a stupid stopcock.

God knows how much all of that lost water will cost me, it'll probably take me a year to pay it off, but you learn from your mistakes right?

Note to self... find someone to loosen stopcock before next water disaster.