Toilet Training

Our plumbing is on the fritz and the landlord blames us.

He brought over a roll of paper towels as a prop to explain "don't use this kind of paper in the toilet." Well, I may be new to Italy, and I may not understand European plumbing -- ahem...bidets are for what exactly? -- but I know the difference between toilet paper and kitchen paper, thank you very much. And yeah, it sucks, but I also know not to trust tampons to the toilets. (Okay, I did, once or twice, but I was so paranoid about the possibility of clogging our pipes that I haven't done it since February.)

Since this conversation with the landlord took place in our entryway, which is adjacent to the bathroom in question, I quickly held up the roll of paper sitting next to the toilet and said, "this is what we're using!" The landlord looked quite puzzled because, yes, that's the right kind to use. He then explained that a plumber just yesterday pulled a large ball of thick paper out of the pipes. "That's strange," I said, "because this is the only toilet paper we're using."

Our landlord scratched his chin and said hmmm (really, he does this!!). "There is no one below your apartment yet. It could maybe be the apartment upstairs. It is one pipe. It is either them or you."

Now, is it possible that my husband and I use so much toilet paper when we wipe that it clogs the fragile Italian pipes despite it's uber-thinness? Sure, I suppose, but I think it's much more likely that our upstairs neighbors are the culprits. However, the upstairs neighbor explanation does not seem to have crossed our landlord's mind until today, when I showed him the clear shining proof of our Italian toilet paper.

The landlord also mentioned, as he left, that there will likely be a plumbing bill for the work. We'll see how much we get charged -- and if the neighbors upstairs are being asked to split the cost.