There is a small war waging in the streets of downtown Thessaloniki. This war, no doubt, has been waged for countless years, with numbers of defeated walking the streets like the ghostly undead. It is doubtful this battle will ever end, the battle-worn still shake their fists proudly, defiantly, against the evil minions.
This is the war of the draining balcony water. Yep. Countless of older apartment buildings in Thessaloniki were apparently made without adequate drainage systems in the balconies. The drainage system basically consists of a hole or two, with a big long pipe jutting out so your water doesn't drip on someone else's balcony below. The water does, however, drip on passersby walking along the sidewalk.
Obviously, this is not so much a problem when it rains, because you don't have people walking around all day long when it rains, and if they are, then they obviously are already wet, so getting an extra drip or two won't matter. It is a problem on the effulgence of sunny days here in Thessaloniki, of which there are quite a few in the summertime. Air conditioners, watered plants, spraying down balconies, all of these work into the battle. There is a neighborhood watch of sorts, that goes around ringing doorbells of apartments in buildings that might have an air conditioning dripping problem. We have a nice bucket under ours, which we deign to empty once a day, but other folks don't seem to be as respectful. I did have an unfortunate incident the other night, where the bucket was too full and thus too heavy for me to pick up, and I tried to pick it up, and ended up sending forth a deluge of water through our small hole. As I heard it splash on the sidewalk below, I winced a little, hoping that it had managed to dodge anyone who happened to be outside. My husband came home a few moments later, apparently I had almost gotten him with the water. Ooops!
Today I was almost washed with a shower of water from someone watering his plants. As I stepped into the street I glanced back, and saw the perpetrator with my own two eyes. I gave as an evil a stare as I could, but he had a sheepish look that seemed to say "well, I must water my plants!"
Yes, the battle goes on. But the water will always win.
2 comments:
Well that's a funny story of almost getting your husband with the water from the balcony! Takes me back to when I was a kid and my my dad threw our Christmas tree over the sitting room balcony after the holidays were over rather than carry it down the stairs. He threw, we heard a scream! We ran down thinking we'd killed someone (big tree from the third floor) and when we got down there, it turns out we'd missed one of our neighbors by about 3 cm's!! So really, personally, I can cope with the water!!
If only it were water that rained down on me from balconies above then it wouldn't be so bad. 2 years ago, I paid my DEH bill at the Kallithea office and as I turned right to get into my car, I was drenched with liquid from a 3rd floor balcony. It was mixed with Chlorox! The stench was horrid and my coat was destroyed from the bleach stain. The woman just stared at me while I screamed obscenities in English, Greek and French and God knows what else came out of my mouth. Unfortunately, if common sense had reigned supreme, I would have spent less time on obscenities and more time trying to find her name and the witnesses standing around me to drag her sorry self to the police station.
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