I hate leaky faucets.

The bloody faucet was leaking in the master bathroom shower and it was driving the engineer part of me totally insane. So in typical Xul fashion I decided to take the thing apart to find out why it was leaking. I managed to figure out how to get the handle off and unscrew it. Then I tinkered around a bit with the decorative face plate and figured out that it turned and then pulled off. Then the main bit was revealed behind that. So I started unscrewing that and then all hell started breaking loose with the water pouring out of the faucet like Niagara Falls. Then my brain went into panic mode and I tried to retighten the screws but that didn't seem to help so then my brain went into full panic mode and I dashed downstairs and out the back door to shut off the water supply at the main shut-off valve; the same main shut-off valve that doesn't shut off all the way.

Now I'm totally freaking out. I tried to do a good thing in fixing a damn leak and everything went tits up and now it's going to cost a fucking fortune to get a damn plumber out on the weekend. So I called my dad to see if he knew of a plumber. Of course he was no help at all. The only plumber he knows is a French Canadian friend of his from the bowling alley and unfortunately he's back up in Canada for the summer.

Then I called my neighbor across the street. Unfortunately for me, his grandmother picked up as he wasn't there at the moment. I told her what my problem was but she seemed to be having a senior moment and was no help. Grrrr. I'm not one to give up so easily especially when lots of money is at stake so I decided to finish trying to take the rest of the faucet mechanism apart to see if I could figure out what the damn problem was.

Well, lo and behold! I got the thing apart and took a good look at how the mechanism worked and I figured out that there was a leaky gasket on the cold water intake side! Isn't that always the way? It's always some damn two cent piece that makes for a damn catastrophic failure. So I reassembled the whole thing again and tightened everything up really well and then tentatively went and turned the water back on at the main valve. When I came back upstairs it wasn't Niagara Falls any more but back to the same annoying drip. Well, at least I know WHY it's dripping and how to fix it. Now I have to go to the bloody hardware shop tomorrow and buy some new rubber gaskets. At least my engineer genes allowed me to figure out how to fix the thing and it turned out to be a fairly easy fix. I would have been super pissed if I had to give big moolah to a plumber for a freaking two cent part.

I AM CLOSING COMMENTS ON THIS POST.  STOP FUCKING TELLING ME THAT I SHOULD HAVE TURNED OFF THE MAIN SHUT OFF.  I AM BLOODY WELL AWARE OF THAT YOU FUCKING TROLLS.