Ans: FOUR, and it still doesn't work.
it's a normal day after a rather delicious mee siam dinner. the occupants of griffenfeldsgade 58 go about their daily business. david - in the face of another catastrophe that hit his poor IBM laptop last night, was busy playing GTA, on our landlord's computer screen; debbie, rewarding herself with a rest after cooking dinner, was busy blogging/watching friends; carol, who's been slacking all day, was watching house; and jiamin, the newest occupant who just officially moved in 3 days ago, was taking a nice warm shower after frisbee training...
jiamin: DEBBBBIIIIEEEE! (as he usually calls for her, for whatever matter, big or small)
debbie troops out of the room and out of the living room. carol continues watching house, blissfully unaware of what's going on..
half hour later:
debbie: CAROL, BRING THE CAMERA HERE....
carol jumps up immediately, grabs the camera, and heads in the direction of the call, slightly confused.
she sees 3 people (no idea how David starting getting involved) standing in the bathroom, with dirty water and dirt swirling around their feet.
the bathroom was clogged. again. for the 3rd time. except that this time, it was worse.
the first time it happened, 3 of us were in amsterdam, and david tackled the problem alone... 2nd time- jiams and deb were in berlin, and david and carol did the plunging... now, the 4 singaporeans were in closer proximity than ever, and for the next 1.5 hours, they alternated between inserting that 4.5m long plumbing snake into the drain, and plunging with all their might. it was a tedious process.
an example of the plunging:
the plunger (david in this case): everyone, take your positions... debbie goes into the shower cubicle to stand over the trap, which we covered with plastic bags; jiamin goes under the sink to seal off another opening there; and carol covers the sink hole - all in the name of increasing the pressure. and then he proceeds to plunge 100 times at a go.
all to no avail.
at first, they were all quite enthusiastic, cracking jokes every 2 seconds about super mario and the invincible NTUC fairprice plastic bag that we used to cover the cubicle drain... but after 1 hour, everyone got tired and slightly despondent. so carol, the only one with clean feet since she climbed straight onto sink level, went out to get refreshments.... but the swiss chocolates that she fed everyone with failed to help to situation, neither did the rounds of water she boiled so that they could pour hot water and baking soda down the drain.....
the time now is 1am. debbie decided that she had enough and got out. slowly, everyone was persuaded that it was time for a break, and resigned to their fates of not getting to bathe for the night. (except jiamin, who of course had finished his shower, but still insists on bathing again)
the girls are just gonna sleep. the guys think they're too filthy to even sit on the sofa. they'd rather sleep on the floor.... they'll probably call the plumber tomorrow morning... but it's a public holiday. bummer.
enough adventures for a night with a 200 year old drainage system....
the time now is 1am. debbie decided that she had enough and got out. slowly, everyone was persuaded that it was time for a break, and resigned to their fates of not getting to bathe for the night. (except jiamin, who of course had finished his shower, but still insists on bathing again)
the girls are just gonna sleep. the guys think they're too filthy to even sit on the sofa. they'd rather sleep on the floor.... they'll probably call the plumber tomorrow morning... but it's a public holiday. bummer.
enough adventures for a night with a 200 year old drainage system....
2 hours x 4 is one too many..... we miss home :
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