14 things about the boil order

hamtramckchurchbuildings

  1. The boil order came through at 10 PM.
  2. All the stores close at 10 PM.
  3. Except for the ones that close at 8 PM.
  4. So forget about buying jugs of water.
  5. The “equipment malfunction“ that caused the problem took place “late in the afternoon.” C noticed the problem around 6 PM, when she was taking a shower and there was a sudden weird drop in water pressure. She came out of the bathroom and said, “I bet they’re going to issue a boil order,” so without even thinking about it much I put her only three pots on the stove’s three working burners and filled them with water and boiled the water.
  6. I am not sure in what format the boil order was issued and in what language. Many residents of this area have only modest English skills and at home they speak an array of languages. There are a lot of big families and a lot of elderly people. A lot of people need to know, but I am not sure who actually knows.
  7. However I am taking a holiday from brushing my teeth.
  8. During a boil order, you should wash your hands using soap and either bottled or boiled water.  You should boil all water used for preparing foods, drinking, and washing. You should immerse your dishes and glasses in bleach water. You should minimize time in the shower, especially if you have any sort of wound, and you should not take a bath, and you should not bathe your children.
  9. Once this is over we will have to flush the pipes.
  10. A lot of people here fled a place where something evil was coming for them.
  11. The streets tonight are full of swaying crowds of drunks, because it is Paczki Day.
  12. I’m not worried about them. They are suburbanites having their wild urban holiday. It’s not like they are drinking water.
  13. Earlier this evening I went into a pharmacy three blocks from here. The pharmacists were pleasant young men who possibly were from Yemen, and the shop was surprisingly busy, with a number of older Middle Eastern men, and an older Polish couple, all picking up their prescriptions.
  14. I am thinking about those older people tonight, and their children, and their children’s children. Did they turn in for the night before the boil order was issued? Will they hear about it in the morning? Who will tell them?

 

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1 Response to 14 things about the boil order

  1. J Murfee says:

    Lovely little story. Beautiful photo. (Glad to have discovered this blog.)

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