Damp, but not in a good way

Having been granted a rare snow day by the Snoopy Borg, I was in the kitchen working on appraisal policy when I heard an odd little explosion in the laundry room followed by a noise. I opened the door to see that one of the water pipes leading to the washer had broken (thankfully, the cold water pipe).

However, shutting it off wasn't as easy as I'd hoped, especially as getting near it was like standing in front of a water sprinkler. After traipsing through the snow with my trusty key to the main water cutoff, I realized I couldn't open the back gate. So I went around my neighbor's house, only falling down once in her yard, to get to the alley. But then I couldn't find the main water shutoff through the snow. I started poking around and thankfully found it pretty quickly.

This is where things began to get frustrating. Seems my key to pull the top off the water cutoff wasn't up to it, and I managed to snap it off inside the rather heavy cover. (I'm always breaking things this way and it always makes me feel like Bullwinkle.) I then tried to remove the mini-manhole top with a crowbar, but this didn't work either.

My only recourse was to call the water company and ask them to cut off the water. She said that they were "very busy". I then asked how busy. One hour? Two? She hesitated and wouldn't commit.

Things began to look up when a snow-encrusted Ian* showed up unannounced. He was on his way to a meeting and, since I wasn't answering my phone, decided to stop by to see if I were a) okay, and b) free later in the day.

When a soggy, wild-haired mistress answered the door, he figured out the situation pretty quickly and retired to the alley with his toolbox. But the water utilities truck showed up at the same time, so Ian was off the hook. He turned down my suggestion that we make a few snow angels before his meeting, but perhaps I can entice him into bringing over his own pizza tray later for some driveway sledding.

So now I've gone from no hot water in the bathroom to no water anywhere. Time to change my shoes and find a plumber, methinks.