The water is coming!

I think I need to backtrack about a week or so in news.  See, we've been under a water ban of sorts.  Water stopped coming from government, so the reservoir got pretty well depleted.  The large reservoir tank feeds to another small tank on the roof, and this comprises our water storage supply.  Essentially, we were draining the tank on the roof pretty fast.  As this is the last resort of water storage for the average Joe here when the large reservoir tank runs out, water is rationed.  Let me outline in more detail, what exactly "rationing" means.

When it's time to wash dishes, we fill a small bowl with water, add soap and wash the dishes.  Then, they are quickly rinsed in running water.  [For those wondering, it is not possible to fill up the sink and rinse the dishes by dipping them in as 1) there is only one sink, 2) the bacteria in the sink is unimaginable, 3) the sink is not designed to be filled as it is essentially a shallow granite box with a drain.]

Hand washing is accomplished by wetting hands, shutting off the water, lathering up, and then quickly washing off the soap.  Showering is more interesting.  Everyone has their own version of course, but mine ran along these lines: fill small container with water; pour it on body; lather up with soap; fill container again to a maximum of 3 times to rinse off soap.  Since my hair is quite long, I decided to forgo washing my hair until the water returned.  (I now understand why so many women keep their hair short here!) 

Mopping floors is done sparingly as is washing clothes.  We left the clothes as long as we could and washed only what was necessary.  Thankfully, we have a ringer washer here (I will elaborate on this in my next post) and so we can customize the amount of water used and waste MUCH less than an automatic washing machine.  It's also much faster and energy friendly despite its age.  :o)  

So there we were, under rationing for about a week with no sign of water coming.  I eventually caved in and decided to wash my hair because it was getting a little too greasy.  I doused my hair under the faucet, lathered up with as little shampoo as I could get away with, and rinsed it off as fast as I could.  I had just finished my routine when I heard shouting from the living room.  I briefly  wondered whether someone had a baby, or perhaps got married.  The shouting got louder and suddenly my MIL yelled at me outside the bathroom door, "ALEXA, THE WATER IS COMING!  THE WATER IS COMING!"

Well, I came out of the bathroom and there was a lot of cheering and yelling up at the other houses around us.  It reminded me of Tolkien's The Hobbit or The Return of the King.  In the last battle of both books, the good guys are fighting hard but they're going to lose, and suddenly they look up and someone yells, "THE EAGLES ARE COMING!"  Well, we didn't have a battle, but we certainly reveled in water that night.