Aren't necessarily the best.

The kitchen's been full of this funny smell lately, it�s a bad smell, something like dirty soapy water with a tinge of sewage. Anyway, since the upgrading of our area is still in progress, my mom called the site office and asked them to send a guy down to see what the problem was.

(Actually, they've already sent a guy down once before, but that's another story altogether.)

So they said they'd send a plumber. Who turned out not to be a plumber. Rather, he's the guy who installs the taps in the bathrooms. I guess they just took the guy who deals the most with water and designated him the plumber.

Anyway. He goes to the gulley in the kitchen and makes Neanderthal noises in response to my mother's complaint that there's a smell. He then finds the cause of the smell; a plastic bit that should be in the gulley (one way trap to prevent cockroaches from coming up but which allows water to flow down) isn't there! The gods of the floor trap are displeased by the removal of this artifact, so they placed upon us the Curse of the Smell.

(Actually, said plastic bit was removed because it didn't fit properly. Once again, another story for another time.)

Plumber-man puts the plastic bit back in. Wonders why there is still a smell. It's inexplicable, everything is in place! Scratches his head and says he'll ask his supervisor. He exits the flat.

Ten minutes later, my mother receives a call from the site office. "hello? The man says no smell no stuck leh."

Whoopee.

written at 11:49 a.m.