In hot water . . .
I live in southern Arizona. I love Tucson. I grew up here. I think I'm privileged to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. But I'm having this little issue, lately. When I turn on the tap to run cold water, I get hot water.
Mind you, cold water can't be had straight from the tap in Tucson in the summer. As I mentioned, I grew up here. We don't have to bury our pipes three feet down to keep them from freezing, and this is one of the side-efects. But while lukewarm is okay and even warm might be acceptable, this is most definitely hot water.
At first, I blamed the time of day at which I shower. I'm a night person, not a morning person--with as much hair as I have, it just takes too long to dry. Then I started blaming the fact that our bathroom is on the west side of a a west-facing apartment. Then I thought maybe the pipes ran on the west side of the building, along the cliff that soaks up the sun. But I can stand under the water for an hour and it just never gets any cooler.
I have finally deduced, from a combination of the improbability of temperature and road construction on the major road beside our apartment, that the main water line runs right up the shoulder of the road. As I mentioned, we live on a west-facing cliff. This cliff must reflect heat down onto the 12" or so of ground that covers our poor, abused water line, bringing more than enough water to hot tub temperature to keep me sweating through a whole shower, when what I really want is to cool down.
Mystery solved. Let the suffering begin.
Mind you, cold water can't be had straight from the tap in Tucson in the summer. As I mentioned, I grew up here. We don't have to bury our pipes three feet down to keep them from freezing, and this is one of the side-efects. But while lukewarm is okay and even warm might be acceptable, this is most definitely hot water.
At first, I blamed the time of day at which I shower. I'm a night person, not a morning person--with as much hair as I have, it just takes too long to dry. Then I started blaming the fact that our bathroom is on the west side of a a west-facing apartment. Then I thought maybe the pipes ran on the west side of the building, along the cliff that soaks up the sun. But I can stand under the water for an hour and it just never gets any cooler.
I have finally deduced, from a combination of the improbability of temperature and road construction on the major road beside our apartment, that the main water line runs right up the shoulder of the road. As I mentioned, we live on a west-facing cliff. This cliff must reflect heat down onto the 12" or so of ground that covers our poor, abused water line, bringing more than enough water to hot tub temperature to keep me sweating through a whole shower, when what I really want is to cool down.
Mystery solved. Let the suffering begin.
posted by Journey | 8:50 PM
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