Under the Hood

Our hotel in Awasa, Gebrekristos Hotel, is a bit more expensive than
the hotel in Ziway, but that still means it's only $10. When we walked
in, T commented that it was a good sign that there were a couple
cleaning people at work. The people at the front desk were friendly and
professional, and we liked the rooms too. We decided to rest for a
couple hours before dinner, so I got my things from the car and took a
short nap.
When I awoke, I "used the facilities", but when I went to flush the
toilet (nope, no frog this time), I noticed there was no handle. The top
was already removed from the water tank, and I saw there was a sort of
pole sticking up, and also the floating device that measures the water
level. I tried pulling up the floating device, but instead of triggering
the flush, the thing came off in my hand and water started spraying out.
I quickly twisted it back on, but there was a steady leak. (Then I tried
the pole, and that worked).
Slightly embarrassed, I called Dereje, who had no better luck, so he
called down to the front desk. A few minutes later an attendant wearing
a tie and a technician in overalls came up. The technician had a
hacksaw, a file and a screwdriver, but he set these things down and
never had to use them. In about 90 seconds, he reattached the floating
head to the metal rod, put the plastic fastener back together with a
washer, pulled some twine out of his pocket, and tightened everything
back on. Good as...well, not new, but good enough. "Great!" I exclaimed,
glad they didn't ask who pulled the thing off to begin with.