The Neighbourhood Old-Timers, Part 3 - The Sewage and The Bitch

Two days after we moved into the house,
the outflow pipe from our house to the
city sewer line backed up into our basement.

Fortunately, we hadn't been spending all that
much time on the toilet . . .

Still, we got a good backwash of sewage onto the
basement floor. And then we discovered that the
pipe to the street was no good, and would need
to be replaced, at a cost of about $7000.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA . . . . havin' fun now !

Sometime during the process of digging up the part
of the driveway that covered the pipe (you didn't think
it would be under the LAWN, did you??), a loud,
annoying woman showed up at our front door.

Actually, she showed up in the driveway first - I heard
this exchange:

"HI ! WHAT ARE YA DOIN' ?"
"I'm working, lady."
"DID SOMEONE BUY DA HOUSE ?"
"That would be the person I'm working for, I guess."
"SO WHATCHA DOIN' ?"
"Look . . . I have work to do . . . I can't talk to you."
"OHHH."

Then I heard the doorbell ring. I answered it. I knew I
shouldn't, but I did.

"HI. YOU MUST BE THE NEW PEOPLE."
"Yeah, hi."
"WELL, I JUST WANTED TO SAY WELCOME TO DA
NAYBAHOOD . . . AND YA FENCE IS LEANING . . .
YA GOTTA FIX IT."
"Um . . . well . . . ok, then, I'll take a look at it."
"OKAY. . .BYE."

And so it began. $7000 later, the sewer pipe was fixed -
but the shit had only just begun.