So where is your stopcock?

Do you know where your stopcock is?.do you know what your stopcock is?...well a word (or quite a few) of warning to anyone that doesn't,

it all started just before Christmas last year,i had come back from an evening out with everyone from work and i was alone in the house....
i went to bed and read a book,then slept soundly,blissfully unaware of the horror to which i would awaken....

After a well earned lay in i walked to the bathroom and stared into the mirror (one of those mornings where i wish i had taken my make up off the night before)
drip drip drip,i looked away from the mirror an saw a tiny drip was gently making its way down from the casing of the shower box,
and hitting the end of the bath,
so i thought to myself what should i do? i decided to go downstairs and find my lovely little pink flowered screwdriver and have a look,

so i gently undid the screws and lifted the front cover off.,
just a very tiny leak was making its way down i couldn't work out from where,maybe id better ask someone who might know.

I went and got dressed and while i was in the bedroom called a friend and said what was happening  "any ideas?" the answer was "leave it alone and i will pop over later and have a look"

DRIP DRIP DRIP

it was getting louder and louder i walked into the bathroom..as i did WHOOSH!
the drip had turned into a jet of water shooting across the bathroom i closed the shower curtain which just made as much difference as a paper hat in the rain,
so what was my next thought?

A BUCKET!! that's a fantastic idea so i ran down stairs and grabbed a bucket ...i had to go in the kitchen to get that (past the cupboard which had the stopcock in) i grabbed the bucket and ran upstairs ..
picture if you will  full force of mains water shooting across the bathroom,me holding a bucket in front of it and every time it was full throwing the water in the bath,and every time i took bucket away from jet me getting full force in the face! so bucket in hand i grabbed my mobile and text one of my daughters HELP ... CALL!! as my brain hit in the face with ice water could not work out how to call her,
she called and got me crying and squealing  "please please help me the shower has burst and i don't know what to do"
"OK calm down we will be there as soon as we can"
so another twenty minutes of holding the bucket and getting soaked (would so have won  a wet t shirt competition)
in the meantime i was trying to grab towels with  my foot to put on floor as by now the water was making its way through the Victorian floorboards into the dining room below, i was by now crying "please somebody help me and sobbing to my self}
 bang bang on the door,(daughter had forgotten her key)
and a terrible thought ..how do i open the door? the water would be left to its self and wreck the bathroom,

i shut the shower curtain again (no idea why as it really did make no difference.) and ran sobbing down the stairs groaning ..please help me ,please help me, opened the door and ran back up.

my daughter.her boyfriend and my ex who had given them a lift followed behind,
i am now soaked and freezing crying pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee helpppppppppppppp me ,

"wheres your stopcock?"

see this is where the warning comes in ...please find out TODAY where your stopcock is and how turn it off.

they had to hunt for it ,found it finally in the cupboard next to the washing machine where the recycle box is kept,

suddenly the water stopped...............

then i had to clean up the floor ,and have the crack that appeared in the ceiling of the dining room filled

i now have a beautiful new shower..(fitted by a qualified shower fitter)

but i will remember that morning for a long while .