The Rest of the Story?

We had lived with that slow stairwell drain for many months. But of course, after the debacle that was our weekend, The Plumber Dude was called in posthaste.

The Plumber Dude grabbed his snake and I led him to the stairwell. He started to snake the drain then stopped. "I’m doing this the hard way," he said. "There’s an easier way to clear these outside drains. Have you got a hose? I’ll show you a little trick so you won’t have to call a plumber for this again."

I perked. I like tricks. I’d like not having to call the plumber, despite this fellow’s amiable personality. Mostly I’d like not ever having this problem again.

So I dragged over the hose. It has one of those squeezie nozzle heads on it. Squeeze the handle, high pressure water jets out of the nozzle. Release and the water stops. Plumber Dude said, "Perfect!" He wrapped a cloth around the nozzle handle and pointed it down the drain, snug up close against the opening. I turned on the water at his prompt.

He squeezed the handle and water fountained up. "Just push it down hard and keep the water pressure directed down the drain," he said as he leaned his weight into it.

Sure enough, about fifteen seconds later water was no longer fountaining, rather it was rushing down that drain like I’d never before seen water rush down that drain. He stopped squeezing, stood up and said, “That’s all there is to it.”

After he left, I turned on the water to the hose again. I squirted it into the stairwell for a few minutes just for the cheap thrill of seeing it race out faster than the hose could pump it in.

Simple pleasures indeed.

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