The New Shower
Home to KSDC HQ, we often host Kapal Selam members at the hut for a night or two or three. So most club members from outside Bali are aware of the hut’s limitations, um… I mean charms… (We lovingly refer to our house as the “hut sweet hut”).
Anyway, for our wedding present, select Kapal Selam members (we never received a list- but we are eternally grateful) decided to chip in and get us a really great present. Lala was in charge. Since we lost two dogs in the last year, she originally proposed that they buy us three (that’s right, THREE) weimaraner/doberman puppies. Thank god she asked us first. The more I read about them, the more I was sure that this would not be a gift, but a curse. Trying to break the news gently (but firmly) I begged Lala not to do it.
She came back with a second proposal- a new shower stall for our bathroom. As most members had occasion to shower at our place, they all knew that our existing shower stall was falling apart. They further knew that Hengky and I would probably never get around to doing anything about it. The perfect present.
Here I am showering in the old stall… yep, that’s intentionally blurred folks! But you get the sense of what we were dealing with.
Now, I must confess that before the shower project began, I liked to ponder hut extensions and improvements with Hengky. Dreaming wistfully of building onto the hut, of a second bathroom, an improved kitchen. One little shower project and my dreams had turned to nightmares. More construction? No time soon!!
Our wedding present was the shower basin, stall and fixtures. Which left us with building a proper wall and tiling it. The project started on October 19th. The workmen had to build a real wall up from the ground floor through the house. Previously the shower wall had been merely wood covered with ceramic tiles. It wasn’t working and certainly not a mistake we wanted to repeat.
As the wall came up through the house, Gregor had to move back upstairs to our room, and we had to move our showering to the garden. Ah, the delight of washing your hair with a hose in a bikini!
Slowly but surely the wall was built, the tiles were grouted, the shower was installed. We discovered our floor was not level, making the installation process a small nightmare.
With the shower usable, we stopped construction and left the project half-finished. Eventually we managed to repaint the walls and finish off the windows. Gregor got his room back and we can now shower in luxury. So, next time Kapal Selam members find themselves crashing at HQ, be sure to enjoy the new shower- you have yourselves to thank for it!
We would like to especially thank Lala for her hard work and organizational skills- it was the perfect present darling- far better than a bunch of mangy mutts!
January 12th, 2006 at 15:32
I remember the days with the old shower, the door that wouldn’t close so water splased outside the shower box (or semicircle rather), the mouldy tiles, the unmoveable shower head! Glad that you have a proper shower now that other people can also enjoy hahaha.. what’s the next construction project, a bath tub?