What the Heck? Wednesday: Water Woes

Do you ever turn on your sink and nothing comes out?  When we lived in the U.S. this never happened.  Or it happened so infrequently that it seemed like it never happened.  It happens all the time here.

There are no good reasons for this to keep happening.  It just happens.  Sometimes it is Monday at 4 p.m., sometimes it is Saturday at 10 a.m.

The first year we lived here, the water would go off quite a bit overnight.  We didn’t really know it until I would go to turn on the shower and it would splash me in the face.  When it turns back on, the air in the pipes makes it go a little crazy when you first turn it on.  Nothing like a little cold water in all over your nightgown to wake you up!

We also run our dishwasher at night.  You know what happens when you run the dishwasher and the water goes off?  Plastic melts.  No fun!

You know when you really need a shower, like you just played tennis in the heat and humidity and you come home expecting a nice long shower?  Then you get in and nothing comes out.  Womp, womp, womp!

Recently, the water outages have been sporadic.  Saturday we had friends over for dinner and as we are preparing everything, the water goes out.  6 adults and 6 kids.  We just pulled the jugs of water out and kept on going.  Don’t think anyone really noticed.

Doesn't everyone save their milk jugs and fill them with water?  We keep several gallons under each sink so that when the water goes out {and you’ve already put a pump of soap in your hands}  you can still wash your hands and flush the toilet.

When we first moved here we heard all kinds of theories as to why the water was out.  We heard that all the water comes in on a barge {true} and that sometimes the barge doesn't get here before it runs out.  That could be the case, but then it wouldn’t come back on in a couple of hours.  We also heard that they turned it off at night so that the people who were watering grass wouldn’t waste the water. Hmm, seems like they would get found out pretty quickly.  Then there are the neighborhood conspiracies.  Some people think that it is the homeowners association turning off the water.  I’ve seen the guys who work maintenance around here have to come out late at night.  They looked like they had to {briefly} step away from the Heinekens, so I don’t think they are doing it.

So that means it could only be one thing.  Island Luck.  That’s what I am going to remember whenever I feel bugged by not having water.  It’s Island Luck.  We are lucky enough to live here and there are some prices to be paid for living in paradise.  Water or no water.  If we get desperate, there’s always the ocean!