Domestic deluge
So, water is pouring into kitchen from bathroom in a domestic deluge of the most urgent order.
Nothing much phases elder teenage son though and eventually he ambles downstairs and shouts into garden: "Err, I think one of you guys has left the bath running."
It is me, of course, having been distracted by a hundred and one other things, and I run in to assess situation.
Husband, meanwhile, who is turning meat on barbeque and finds it tricky to multi-task at the best of times, doesn't really know how to compute this unsettling news.
He stands there with his hands on his hips looking cross, but rooted to the spot, until I call for his help as son obviously thinks his job here is done.
Husband is now seeking to apportion blame and demands to know what absolute idiot caused his mayhem.
I don't really have time for a full discussion though as I am in the middle of tipping water out of cutlery drawers and contemplating building a Noah-style ark, so I say: "Yes, yes, I am the idiot, I totally fess up, it was me, yes, stupid I know but these things happen, sorry, sorry and sorry again."
This throws husband as he likes a bit of resistance usually in the blame game, making it more fun.
But, no, I have taken the wind out of his outraged sails and now he must, mumbling away, fetch a bucket or two.
Eventually he goes back outside to try and rescue charred meat and, all becalmed in the kitchen with just a very soggy carpet to sort, we sit down to eat.
I am still very much in the doghouse though so I don't, although I very much feel the urge to, make a joke about the Great Flood of 2009, realising that it is probably far, far too early to make light of it.
And I don't, although it is on the tip of my tongue, say to husband that the barbeque isn't up to his usual standard. No I certainly don't.
* It gets me every time.
Whether it is the Swan Lake leap at the emotional climax to Billy Elliot, or the talented street dance act on Saturday's Britain's Got Talent, there is something about boys and young men getting their dancing shoes on that always brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye.
sue.gilson@chiobserver.co.uk
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Weather for Bognor
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -5 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
