The water pressure in my house is so bad that to fill a bucket I run the tap and carry on with the rest of my jobs. If I put the washing machine on, I usually leave the house as I can do nothing else which involves water. It is without doubt the biggest drawback of the place.
However at least a dribble of water is better than none which I what I was faced with on Sunday night. “Oh sorry, the building work downstairs has messed up your water. It will be back on at 11pm. Don’t worry”, the caretaker assured me.
11pm came and went and although everyone else in the house was back on, I was still without. And then it stretched into the next day and then the next and so it went on for a total of 6 days. I had to carry up water in buckets and use it sparingly and leave the house to shower someplace else.
Finally the landlord decided that this was an ideal opportunity to not just get my water back in the taps but to fix the water pressure problem too. Men came and went and there was a God almighty mess for days and cigarette ash and butts in the sink and bookmarks all all the floor.
Eventually the new pipe was laid under the bathroom floor and a local ‘artisan’ came to re-tile. Pleased with his handy work he left the flat.
On returning home from work I suppose I should not have been surprised at the shoddy workmanship, after all I have learned to lower my expectations after all my time in this country but I had hoped that he might have cleaned up the grouting a bit better than this.
And it wasn’t just the poor appearance which was disappointing but also the floor tiles which rocked when I stand on them, a bit like a see-saw. The metal runner on the floor came loose the first time I open the door because he had tried to glue it to the tiles rather than screw it.
The whole job was botched from start to finish. I wonder whether there can be any reliable and thorough tradesmen in Shanghai. If one could be found he could certainly make a good living by carrying out work for foreigners.
The Chinese population might be happy with this quality of work but it’s far from the sort of finish foreigners would expect from an ‘expert’.
I am trying to put a positive spin on it – at least I have a copious supply of water and can wash my hands after flushing the toilet – but I can’t helping thinking that for a little extra care taken by my ‘artisan’ builder, I could have my bathroom back to normal too.