Snafu

Sometime around mid-morning I went to get a drink and the water that runs out of the tap is a mere trickle compared to what I usually see. Try another faucet, same thing. What's happened to the water? I call the water department and they tell me the water has been shut off for non-payment. I'm thinking and/or hollering "that's crazy" on account of the bill being paid automatically every month. Turns out the bill is $400 for two months which is twice what it normally is. This in turn explains the insufficient funds notice I got from my bank, which couldn't have been the water bill because, after all, the water bill is only $200, not $400. Since it wasn't the water bill, it must have been some commercial outfit that would try again and find that there was now money in the account and everything would sort itself out. But I had forgotten about the runaway sprinkler. An indefinite time ago I noticed that one sprinkler head seemed to be stuck on, but I thought it was my neighbor's. A week later I found out that, no, it was mine. Doh! Anyway, I paid the bill with a debit card and a couple of hours later the water was back on.
    The last couple of weeks I have racked up around $500 in avoidable expenses. However, compared to this month's airfare bill it's a drop in the bucket. It may not be raining here, metaphorically speaking, but it's certainly drizzling.