So a few days ago I am doing a load of dishes in the kitchen. When I’m finished, I go to wash my hands in the bathroom and notice that the entire floor is covered in about an inch of water. It seemed that all the (dirty greasy) water that had gone down the kitchen sink ended up here. Darn. So, this entailed a call to my landlord. Now, although landlord is usually synonymous with trouble, I am quite lucky. My landlord is an old retired man. Although the apartment technically belongs to his son, the father manages everything.

The next day he comes over with a spool of cable, gets down on his knees in the bathroom, and tries to unclog the mess himself. It doesn’t work. So, after admonishing me not to take a shower, he vows to return the next day with a plumber. The next day he does indeed show up with a plumber, and this plumber is a typical plumber: big, overalls, dirty, friendly. He takes apart the bathroom sink, does some heavy duty plunging, sticks a few cables down the drain, and about half an hour later comes up with an absolutely rank looking conglomeration of hairballs, congealed grease and toenail clippings. After this victory, he takes a look at the kitchen sink and replaces the old piping with a new flexible hose. All is well. I shake hands with the both of them and bid them adeiu.

An hour later, all is calm, and I am reading on my balcony, enjoying the fine weather. Buzz!, someone is at my door. An un-announced buzz means one of three things: Gypsy salesperson, man/woman coming to read the electric/water meters, or my landlord. I assume its him and I’m right. He has with him a little bag of cleaning products, and proceeds into the kitchen. Taking out a product called “Axion,” he dabs a bit on a sponge and begins scouring the sink. Apparently during his previous visit he concluded that I was not keeping the sink as clean as he would like. As he continues scrubbing away at the sink, I attempt to join in, but really its only a one person job. So, I just leave him be and continue to read on the balcony.

About a half hour later I come back inside and find that he has moved to the bathroom and is scrubbing the tub. He is pretty much finished, and at that point I get a short lecture about how I should keep the kitchen and bathroom cleaner. It’s not mean-spirited, but as I had been warned by my counterpart to humor him, I smile and nod and promise to keep everything more sparklinger. Before he leaves, additional notice of displeasure is given regarding my collection of shoes adjacent to the front door. A mess, he exclaims, in mock frustration, too many shoes! So I put a few of them away in a little closet and at this he is quite satisfied. I promise again to keep things cleaner in the future and he leaves satisfied.

A minute later comes the customary follow-up buzz; he always forgets something and has to come back for it. This time it is his watch. I grab it, open the door and hand it right to him. We laugh a little and he departs once again.