So I take the day off of work to prepare to go to Uncle Grahams funeral. I have a few loads of washing that need doing, so I set about doing them. One load, washed, dried — this load is most of what I’m taking with me clothes-wise to the Wairarapa.

Second load while the first load is drying in the dryer — it overflows. Now when washers in NZ are finished with the water they use to wash, it usually goes into the drain. When things go wrong, they don’t overflow into the drain, they overflow onto the floor. So after the load is finished, I go upstairs to the laundry.

The whole bathroom/laundry is flooded to a level that covers my big toe. And it’s started to seep out to the carpet in the hallway.

“We need towels, lots of towels”.

So being the only one home, I grab the most absorbent towels I can find, and some towels that suck at holding water, pull a towel or two out of the dryer and get cracking. Put the towels on the ground, the most absorbant ones on the threshold to the bathroom. wait till they soak up as much water as they can, wring towels out in the shower compartment. Repeat.

Half hour later the water level is down to a dampening on the linoleum floor. Phew. Disaster averted. Which really wasn’t that bad after all.