It's ALWAYS something.

So, I did the edging of the yard - my MOST HATED yard task - and when I came in I had to wash up.

So I did so, in the bathroom sink. Then it would not drain. So, being the competent person that I am, I stuffed an old hand towel in the overflow hole and started plunging. The water began to drain, but I could hear a dripping.

Apparently, the Very Old Drainpipe under the sink developed a hole, and the water drained out through there.

Now, this is not as catastrophic as No Hot Water or as No Functional Toilet, but as I have but one bathroom - and one bathroom sink - it means that I wash my face and brush my teeth in the kitchen (and have to be fully dressed in order to do both as the blinds don't go all the way down).

So I called the local "emergency" plumber, just to see what it would cost and maybe try to schedule for Monday afternoon. No go; he's stacked up until the middle of NEXT week (as in, the week of October 22).

(and - I have to insert this here - yes, next week is my Mid Fall Break. But I will be d....d if I give up one of my rare chances to get out and do something more fun than running to the Kroger's in Sherman instead of the Wal-mart here in town for my groceries. And yes, I'm also not giving up the yarn shop trip even though this repair is bound to be expensive. Emergencies are what savings accounts are for, no?)

So I called the local Mr. Rooter franchise. Oh, I know, they will probably cost the Earth compared to the no-name-brand local plumbers, but you know? I'm kind of through with no-name-brand local plumbers. You may recall I learned to replace a wax toilet seal because not one of the dozen or so plumbers I called had an appointment any closer than a week away. (And No Toilet is, as I said, considerably more catastrophic - at least in a one-bathroom home - than No Bathroom Sink is).

They are sending someone at 1 tomorrow. Yes, on a Sunday. Yes, I asked if a weekend call cost more. No, it does not, apparently (And I cannot imagine they'd lie to me about that; I told them I could just as easily have them come out Monday).

My only concern is that the damaged pipe is the little stub that comes out from the wall - and it is a VERY soft metal. And I live in a rather old house. I am just hoping that the plumber doesn't look at it and go "ZOMG that is lead!!!!11!!" and either refuse to fix it or tell me I must have the entire wall (the wall that adjoins my bedroom, as it so happens) ripped out to replace it.

As it's a DRAIN pipe, I don't see that it should be too much of an issue, but still...I've noticed that some people, if the words "lead" or "asbestos" or "mercury" happen to come up, get all scared.

I'm hoping they can just fit a PVC "sleeve" inside the old pipe and seal it off somehow.

If not, I suppose I could just keep a five-gallon bucket under the sink just dump it into the bathtub as needed. A bad solution, but not as bad as having months of costly, life-disrupting renovations.