Today I’m grateful for plumbing. It’s really kind of a love-hate thing. We have a new sink, and the pipes beneath the old sink are no longer in the right place. After reinstalling the garbage disposal, I fidgeted with the drain piping to see what I’d need to do. There were two gaps: one just beneath the sink, and another below the t-joint.
Although the gaps are only about an inch in both cases, it’s enough that I’ll need new pipes. I went to Home Depot and picked up a few parts, then came back. Upon returning to the house, I realized I’d forgotten my plumber’s putty at the checkout stand. Back to Home Depot, where someone had set the putty aside at the checkout. I grabbed it and drove back home. Once there I realized I needed another fitting, because the one I’d bought wasn’t quite the right type. And a hacksaw to cut the pipes to the right length. Sigh. Back to Home Depot a third time. This time, though, I had what I needed, and everything came together as planned.
Everything drains well, and we can enjoy our new sink.
So doing plumbing work is a horrid thing, and it always seems like I have to fit and re-fit the pipes until I get things lined up right. Oh, and it’s inevitable that plumbing work has to be done in a cramped space. Crouching beneath the sink is frustrating. But frankly it’s not actually that complicated, so it’s not worth paying a professional plumber $200 an hour to crouch under the sink and fit pipes. I end up doing it myself, and I cuss under my breath whenever I’m faced with plumbing work.
But plumbing itself is actually pretty wonderful. When the pipes are all working and hidden beneath sinks and behind walls, it’s magical how all the water gets where it needs to go. Our showers are warm, our dishwasher and washing machine clean things, our faucets all run, and our toilets all flush. It’s a good example of how our modern world is filled with conveniences that we hardly even notice (until they break, that is). Today’s example is plumbing, but the same applies for everything from electricity to transportation to computers. I’m grateful for all the things that make our lives easier, more comfortable, more efficient.