After two months of various surprises and stories, the leak in my apartment that was destroying my neighbour's ceiling has now been located, YAY!
It wouldn't be such a relief were it not for how long it took, and for the threats that I received along the way.
The plumber that found it (for it was very well hidden) was rather amazing. The first thing he did was that he proceeded to smell my flat. He sniffed around it for five minutes as if he were a drug dog looking through luggage. At first I was slightly irritated as while I don't think that my home is the nicest place on earth, I wouldn't consider it to be a dirty smelly place.
After a while he said: "Ah, I think I know where the leak is." I must say that I was rather dubious at that point. But he walked straight to the kitchen, opened a cupboard (in which I had already looked for the leak and found none), tapped against its interior wall, saw that it was hollow, broke it, and found the leak.
It only took him five minutes to fix it. I am still very much impressed, and left wondering why that guy isn't working as a "nose" in the perfume industry. I have friends coming to my place several times a week, we often fix ourselves something to eat in the kitchen right above where the leak was and none of them ever smelt anything special. That guy must be a mutant or something...
Anyway, now all I have left to do in order to return myself to a normal life (for my own definition of those terms) is to finish off a smallish site, dash to the end of the chapter I'm currently translating (which was interrupted by the recent political events), and find a more or less regular revenue stream. It might seem like a lot (especially the third part) but after the past times of electricity, bank, rent, insurance, and leak trouble (not to mention other things best kept silent) this feels like a genuine relief :-)
Besides, it's sunny in this parisian springtime, and that can only be good.
