The $4000 Neighbor

Turns out it's not so bad living in The Jungle after all. I've written about our neighbors previously and while that is all still true it's not the whole story. Tarzan just finished a three hour stint in the side yard, first with the Roto Rooter man and then with one of the neighbors, fixing the water pipe connection for the house.
Funny story.
We were getting ready to go out this morning, I being slower than Tarzan caused that he had time to spare and went to the front of the house to water the lawn and the pipe that leads to the main water supply in the street started leaking, and not a drip drip drip situation but a hissing, spraying sort of situation.
Yeah.
So we shut the water off completely - disturbing the nastiest cockroach I have ever seen - and called the plumber peeps. His estimate was "$895 for the first two hours and then $450 for every hour after that."
The time estimate was four to six hours.
They were suggesting ripping out the concrete that is adjacent to the house, following the pipe to the street and replacing the whole deal.
Yikes, that's a lot of work and dough, but what choice did we have? We've got to have water.
No, no says one of the neighbors. Just dig down in an arc around the pipe, cut the pipe below the leak, get a coupling, a new pipe and there you go.
Okay. But we are not that daring. Nor that trusting in our own abilities.
Lemme hop the fence then, and show you how it's done.
Two hours later and we've got water and no leak.
Is it neat and pretty? No. Is it likely the way the building department would want it done? No. Is it the way Fleighund would have done it? No
But.
Did it work and did it save us about $4000? Yes and yes.
In fact, our neighbor wouldn't take money. We had to practically force him to take a plate of cinnamon rolls. "It's what neighbors do," says he. I know a few countries who could take notes.

This is me, not so resentful of the neighborhood anymore.