Inundation

Lindsey and I left the flat in East Melbourne nice and early on Tuesday. It was very quiet on the roads so it didn't take long to get there.

I was scheduled to start at 8:30. I was thinking that that gave me plenty of time to get some breakfast, have some coffee and make a gentle start to the day.

Then I walked through the pharmacy towards the surgery and saw that the gates were still closed, and there were people standing around in the entrance area.  This was most unusual!

The run of Terrible Tuesdays had continued.  We were closed because of flood!!!!!!!

It seems that someone (we suspect the pharmacy overnight security bloke) had used the patient toilet overnight and that the flush button had been pushed down and got stuck.  We assume that he had also used large amounts of toilet paper.  This had caused the toilet to block and overflow. We believe that he had noticed an overflow and had subsequently gone to the public loos by the supermarket.  We have reason to think that he said nothing to anyone but had let the overflow continue. It also appears that the clinic has a very slight slope down towards the back that we had not previously noticed.  The water did.

When the 7:30 receptionist arrived she headed down towards the back of the clinic in the dark.  We don't put the reception lights on until 8:00 when we are ready to open.  "What is that funny noise?" she wondered as she let herself in.  "And where did this water come from?"

By this time the entire clinic was covered in around a centimetre of water, from the patient loo all the way to the back.  The nurses' treatment room was covered.  All the doctor's rooms.  Physio and podiatry.  Pathology. Kitchen.  Everything except the entrance area which is the other side of the errant loo.

The 7:30 receptionist and the diabetes nurse were on the phone cancelling early morning appointments.  The other partner was talking to the pathology people and turning back people coming for blood tests.  I rang Lindsey, on her way to visit one of the nursing homes. She turned back. I bought coffee and toasted sandwiches from the muffin shop, since we couldn't get to our kitchen. Then I also set to, ringing people to put off their appointments.

Most people were very obliging.  One or two elderly people were a bit put out that they couldn't see their doctor as planned, but I think that they hadn't fully grasped what was going on.  One bloke was extremely put out that he couldn't have his blood test and refused to go up the hill to an alternative pathology firm (It's not far, only a 5 minute walk - we weren't sending him kilometres away) and came back every 20 to 30 minutes complaining grumpily that we weren't open yet. Eventually we told him more firmly that we wouldn't be open for ages yet and he should go elsewhere. He did. Everyone else had disappeared without complaint and either came back later, or had gone up the hill.

I have to say that the shopping centre management responded magnificently. In no time at all there were people in place with water sucking machines. Men with mops. The clinic was dried, disinfected, dried and disinfected again.  Big machines came to blow dry the rooms with carpets.  They were VERY noisy machines but also very effective. We managed to have enough doctors' rooms dry and ready to start working from 1:30.  The machines continued to blow in the rooms with carpet.

We had them on again overnight on Wednesday to make sure the carpets were properly dry.  You don't want musty carpets anywhere, but especially not in a medical centre.  On the plus side, the surgery floors have probably never been so clean! And none of the computers were damaged, even though the boxes sit on the floor.

But Terrible Tuesday continued for me.  As Lindsey and I left in the evening I remarked that I had left my jacket in the (locked) clinic.  Oh well.  I could probably manage without it until the morrow.  It wasn't until we went into the flat, ready for wine and something to eat, that I remembered that my car key was in a pocket in the jacket.  And I needed my car on Wednesday, for Lindsey and I were headed in different directions after work.  Nothing for it but to borrow Lindsey's car and drive back to the surgery to pick up the jacket.  Sigh!  It did mean that I could check that the cleaner had noticed the note asking her to leave the machines on.  But I could have done without it.