I had a rough relationship
with the flexible shower hose connected to my bathtub’s faucet (“tap” in South
Africa). Despite water pressure so low that showering was impossible, this connection
managed to leak water all over the bathroom floor.
I needed a cheap fix. My theoretical
solution? Disconnect and remove the useless hose and cap the “hole” that
remained.
Seek and ye shall (perhaps) find
Apparently, leaking
connectors are rare in my corner of KZN. I visited several local hardware
stores and couldn’t find a cap to plug that size hole. Eventually, I visited a plumbing
store and explained my problem to a helpful young female assistant. She
suggested an unwieldy galvanized cap. It would have fit the hole, but it was as
visually appealing as a tumor on the Gerber Baby’s nose. She suggested next
time I come, I bring a photograph to help track down the right cap. In the
meantime, I carried home a different fitting.
 |
| Trial and error may win the day, but not in my case. The cap that didn’t. Nor did it plug the hole. |
I screwed on the fitting.
It didn’t cap the hole.
When I returned that fitting
to the store the following day, the same assistant introduced me to a plumber. I
showed them the photographs I’d taken. The plumber nodded then muttered something
about “twenty cents.” Misunderstanding, I assured him I that, while I was
looking for a reasonably cheap fix, I was willing to pay more than 20 cents.
 |
| (FYI: Twenty cents South African is worth less than one cent American.) |
The plumber didn’t wait
around to explain the obvious to the dumb American South African. Instead, he
pulled out a coin and held it up: 20-cents. He looked around for a small hammer
and, without fanfare, hammered the coin into the hole. Satisfied it was sufficiently
snug, he handed me the modified fixture. “Put putty inside,” he said. “When it
is dry, screw it onto your pipe.”
Back home, I almost
followed his directions. Since I already owned a tube of Bostik Silicon Sealant
(clear), I substituted that for putty.
A miracle
His fix works perfectly. No
more unwieldy hose snagging around the faucets/taps as I run my bath water. No
more leaking means no more cursing as I mop the floor. No more cursing means more
relaxation as I loll in warm water…
Should I drop in on the plumber
and thank him for the miracle fix that satisfied my immediate need plus impressed
me with his practical yet imaginative genius?
I could also hand him
the many American one cent coins that clog up my purse and tell him his miracle
fix could be…well, priceless. Fiduciary facts
 |
Left: South African
20-cent piece.
Right: American 1-cent piece. One South African rand (ZAR 1.00) is worth approximately US $0.07. Another way of looking at it: despite being the same size as one cent American, ZAR’s 20-cent coin is worth less than US $0.01. |
 |
FYI; South Africa’s 10-,
20-, and 50-cent coins.
(ZAR 0.50 is worth—depending on the day—about $0.04.) |
