I've been holding off for a while on this
But I guess it's about time I made my mark on this particular qotw, with my own litany of extreme dumbness. But before I start- a thought for you- why is it that the extremely intelligent among us also manage to do some quite spectacularly dumb things?

Either way, here is my first tale of woe. I was about 17, and living in a first floor flat with my then housemate, my Mother. Just before we moved into our current house. And as teenage boys are apt to do once in a while, we decide we need a bath. Although for me this isn't just once in a while, I was actually quite clean for a teenager, as opposed to something that Saddam Hussein would have happily considered unleashing as a weapon of mass destruction.

So, I start running the bath, getting the mix just right. And then I got a phonecall from a friend, and happily go and chat to him for a while, thinking the bath will be ok as the taps are running quite slowly. Now for the quick of thought amongst you, I guess you can already see where this is going so I will cut to the chase.

I finished my conversation, and then switch on the TV for an hour or so. Yes, I'd forgotten the bath was still running. Now when I remembered, and went back to the now sodden bathroom, I thought... shit. I was more nervous than a raw army recruit when he sees that sergeant major he's heard all the rumours about. I got the mother of all roastings that would make a pig on a spit feel sorry for me.

To get to the point, the flat downstairs was flooded- as in completely ruined. The water had destroyed everything. Suffice to say my parent, the tenants downstairs, the landlady and the insurance company were not that happy with me. And I'm not at all surprised that the tenancy wasn't renewed.

And since then I've never had a bath. I decided to be smart and stick to showers instead... but that's another story.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Sat 29 Dec 2007, 10:07, Reply)