A big hole...

...in the ceiling. Tai Chi Man and I arrived home from buying the groceries today to find water pouring through the ceiling in the basement. Thankfully, the only damage was to the ceiling - there is a vinyl floor below with a mat on it, and the mat went outside to be dried.

We had to quickly turn off the water supply (if only we had shown the kids how to do it that before now)! Then part of the ceiling had to come down to let the rest of the water drip out and to find the problem. It wasn't hard to find - a pipe was spotted, squirting out water.

A weekend call to the plumber costs $120 an hour these days - ouch! Thankfully, we found a plumber who could come straight away and the job was completed in an hour, so we were out of pocket only about $140.

Of course, the repair of the ceiling will take a little longer, and won't be done until the area has been left open to dry out. With our current summer temperatures, that shouldn't take long.

By the way, I have good news. My mum and dad now have a computer and we can now email each other. They'll be able to read my blog so here's a quick virtual wave to mum and dad!