Between a tub & the Elevator

Our elevator stinks. In both ways. Smelly-something-sulphur-y and the fact that it does not work. You have to push the button just the right way, do a little dance and maybe you'll ascend. It likes to stop between floors. Usually it starts right back up. Usually. We were on the way downstairs to begin our weekend vacation to Alamein (future posts coming) and the elevator stopped between 4 & 3. I had all the kids and a couple bags with me. That delayed us for 30 minutes. The kids handled it ok. Only when we began a slow, uneven descent with the door open and no power, did I begin to get a little anxious. When we lined up with the 3rd floor door, I pounded on it and we hopped out. Then hauled the rest of the bags down another 3 flights of stairs. I found out that Mahmoud (our boab) went to the top floor and was lowering it manually. Geez, that made me feel WAY better. We've sworn off the elevator for a while. Which doesn't help when we live on the 5th floor. **

So today, the elevator is out. Out, out, no power, nothin'. Great. I have to go to the grocery store. We were gone for the last 4 days and need supplies! (darn tootin', cowboy!) Jacqueline & I began our slow decline. We get down one floor and there is a bathtub on the stairs. Yeah, a bright blue bathtub. The landlord is particularly fond of renovating his bathrooms. When I suggested he update our's, he said that it would be too expensive, everyone else in the building would want it too, blah de blah blah. He just does his own apartment instead. So it's been an ongoing project for the past 2 years; jackhammering, broken tile in the stairwell, a different bathtub on the landing. This one is numero dos. We can't use the elevator and can't make it down the stairs. Great. I put Jacqui in the tub first, then climb in myself. We scoot down the length of the butt, sorry Freudian slip, TUB, and then I climb out on the next landing, reach around for J. and continue our journey. Then there are the piles and piles of tiles (I saw miles & miles). I mean, really, this shouldn't be an epic akin to Lord of the Rings just to make it downstairs! (sorry, first epic that came to mind, just finished a LOTR marathon)

We go to the store, shop, load the groceries in and head home. We get home, park, unload bag upon bag of perishable food only to discover that the elevator STILL isn't working. It made me really start wishing I was on a lower floor. Fortunately, (b/c they are never around) Adil & Mahmoud came running out and did a relay race with my groceries posing as the baton. At least nothing was broken. I walked upstairs with the eggs (so they wouldn't be broken) and Jacqui, who was asleep. (like you need to ask, of course she didn't go back to sleep for a lovely nap) I spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone with our housing people who deal with the landlords. I went back to take a picture of the tub, and it has been moved. Gosh, they can be speedy when they want to! We'll see what tomorrow brings in the elevator department. My knees may never forgive me.



** Actually, it's the 6th. They count the ground floor as 0 and the next floor I'd call "2nd" they call "1st". Go figure.