Describe a problem you managed to solve

I want to talk about a problem which happened last winter, when my parents were away in Cairo for a week and I was alone in our flat in Alexandria. One night I woke up at about two o'clock, and water was dripping from my bedroom ceiling onto my desk.

Later I found out the reason. The old couple who live above us were in Dubai to visit their daughter, and a pipe under their kitchen sink has broken. Because nobody was at home, the water was leaking for many hours before I noticed it.

First, I moved my laptop and books and I put some buckets under the drips. Then I went downstairs and woke up the doorman of our building. He was not very happy, but he showed me where is the main valve, which is on the roof, and we closed the water together. After that I called the couple's son, and he gave me the permission to let a plumber into the flat. The plumber came in the next morning and he fixed it quickly. Finally I agreed with the son that they will pay for the damage in my room.

Afterwards I felt very tired, but also proud of myself, because normally my father solves these kind of problems. When my parents came back they were really impressed.

The problem I'd like to describe happened last winter, while my parents were visiting relatives in Cairo and I had the flat in Alexandria to myself. I woke up at two in the morning to the sound of dripping, and when I switched on the light, there was water coming through my bedroom ceiling and pooling on my desk.

It turned out that a pipe under the kitchen sink in the flat above had cracked. The elderly couple who live there were away at their daughter in Dubai, so nobody had noticed, and the water had been seeping through the floor for hours before it reached me.

My first priority was damage control. I got my laptop and textbooks out of the way and lined up every bucket we owned under the drips. Then I went down and woke the doorman, who wasn't exactly thrilled, but he knew that the main valve for our side of the building was up on the roof, and together we managed to turn it off. After that I rang the couple's son, explained what had happened and got his permission to let a plumber in, and the plumber had it sorted by mid-morning. I also persuaded the son that his parents should cover the cost of repainting my ceiling, which he agreed to without any fuss.

Afterwards I was completely drained, but I also felt quietly proud. At home my dad is normally the one who deals with this kind of thing, so handling it alone felt like a small step into adulthood.

Last winter I had to deal with a problem that, a year earlier, I'd have handed straight to my father. My parents were in Cairo for a family wedding, I had our flat in Alexandria to myself, and at about two in the morning I woke up to a steady drip, drip, drip. When I switched the light on, water was running down my bedroom wall and collecting in a puddle on my desk.

It emerged that a joint under the kitchen sink in the flat above had given way. The couple who own it are in their seventies and were spending a month with their daughter in Dubai, so the water had been quietly soaking through their floor for most of the evening before it found its way into my room.

The first thing I did was limit the damage: I rescued my laptop and lecture notes and stationed every bucket and saucepan we had under the leaks. Then I went down and roused the doorman, who, to his credit, didn't complain too much and knew that the stopcock for our side of the building was on the roof. Once we'd shut it off, I phoned the couple's son, talked him through what had happened and got his go-ahead to let a plumber in. By eleven the next morning the joint had been replaced, and the son had agreed, without my having to push, to pay for my ceiling to be repainted.

Afterwards I was shattered, but there was a definite glow of satisfaction too. It was the first time I'd handled a genuine crisis on my own, and I think it changed how my parents see me.