some time last night : - I noticed water on the floor of the laundry, but thought nothing of it - in a room where there are often dripping clothes/other items being carried about, it's not really a shocking sight.

Today:
10.30am:- I poked my head under the house to see if Bartholomew was under there (he was, and came running when he saw me, cute kitty) and heard a drip drip drip. hmmm, that's a bit unusual - things aren't supposed to go drip drip under the house. I went further in and instead of the leaky pipe I was expecting, found a wet patch of rocky ground with water dripping onto it from the floorboards above. I went inside, and after searching about for wet floor, seeing the large puddle of water that had amassed around the bottom of the hot water system - grabbed the wee torch and headed back under the house. Where I found that there are at least two large sheets of chipboard absolutely saturated and sagging. It is very much like the Waitomo Caves under there (without the glow worms)! There is also some lichen hanging about so I imagine the hot water system has been seeping for quite some time and has all of a sudden burst forth with a Big Leak.

11.15am:- Finally get through to the real estate and inform them of the Very Serious Problem. The maintenance lady tells me to shut off water supply and electricity to the system and she will get someone to come and look at it. The hot water system is Very Old and has no turning-water-off function, but the electricity bit I take care of.

2pm:- I call the real estate again to find out what is going on as I have not heard from them. The maintenance lady informs me that she has phoned and emailed the owner and is waiting to hear back from them. I reiterate the seriousness of the issue and she says she will call me back.

4pm:- I call the real estate again to find out what is going on as I have not heard from them. I leave a message on Maintenance Lady's voicemail and she calls me back in a few minutes. Maintenance Lady says that she rang the owner of the house this morning and Owner Lady said that she would have to talk to her husband and Maintenance Lady had been calling and emailing and had not heard a thing. I state that it is an issue that needs to be dealt with quite urgently, and they should have had the prescence of mind to take matters into their own hands and send a plumber out instead of waiting for the owner, who runs by a completely different clock to the rest of the world. She says to stay put and someone from the office will be around to assess the situation.

4.45pm:- The real estate b1tch who initiated court proceedings against me when I left my last place of residence ( I really must tell that story sometime, it was a pathetic/hilarious case which I won easily) turned up to inspect the damage. She took a quick look at the hot water system and asked if it was possible to see under the floor, so I grabbed the torch and headed outside. On arriving at the Wee Door to Under The House, she poked her head in a little bit and I shoved the torch at her and told her she had to go right under. Her reply: "oh yay, there's probably spiders under there." hee!

End Result:- Tomorrow I get a brand new hot water system - in the meantime I have no hot water. Also the floor will have to be replaced, won't that be fun.

Edited to add:- oh I forgot to mention that I did get through to the real estate a fortnight ago to tell them about the termites and was told that the owner said he had to come back "shortly" to do some other work (top railing on side deck, bathroom drain, hallway ceiling...) and would take care of it then. I am expecting him some time in November.