Not a Typical Evening At Home

Finally, an apartment story worthy of topping the $300 imported toilet seat. Despite the Christmas busy-ness that begins this week, my life is obviously not exciting or full enough. I though the highlight of my day would be the lovely new hairbrush I purchased, but oh no, that would not be the case. Something more groundbreaking would take place, literally. While there was no earthquake this evening, at least none that could be felt, my living room floor would give the impression otherwise.
There I was, minding my own business, watching A White Christmas and organizing gifts when suddenly, there was a loud 'pop'. I was startled, for I hadn't noticed knocking anything off the coffee table. As I leapt to my feet, I noticed some small particles fall to the floor. Immediately I looked up expecting to see a crumbling ceiling, but the disturbance had not come from above, but below. There, across the length of my living room, was now a 2 ft. x 6 ft. 'v' shaped mound of popped up, cracked tile.



More than anything, I think I was stunned and baffled as to why my floor would choose this moment to erupt. The following hour or so went something like this: I called my friend Becky who then came over, we checked with the neighbor below who, as it turned out, had no damage, the security guard checked out the floor, and finally, we contacted the landlady who came over to survey the damage. Oh, somewhere in there, while waiting for Becky to come over, I called home to talk to my dad who suggested, among other things, that I should throw a rug over it. Thanks dad.

Apparently at some time in the past, this had happened before, explaining the mysterious section of replaced tile on the opposite end of the living room. That time, however, the damage was the result of an earthquake. It's believed that pressure below the surface forced the floor to break on this occasion. It was explained to me that the floor was laid too tight, not allowing room for shifting. As there are no pipes running under the floor, I was assured the cracked floor presents no danger, however, it may be a week before it can be repaired. In the meantime, I'll be here, unless the floor should open and swallow me up. Okay, not funny.