I was on crutches and had asked Bruno the plumber to attend a Bondi blocked drain at a well known food shop.

Bruno rang to say he couldn’t get the electric eel out of the drain pipe, could I come and help?  My wife (8 months pregnant) delivered me to the site and I limped in and found Bruno with electric eel over an access drain and the eel cables stuck fast!

“What happened” I asked. Bruno said “The eel cables just kept going in, so I kept on putting them in”.

“How much cable is in that hole, Bruno”? I asked. ” About 45 feet” (15 metres) he replied!

“How far to the blocked toilet, Bruno”? I asked”  “About 10 feet” he replied!  I cringed!

Me on crutches and  Bruno tried to drag that electric eel out of that pipe. It wouldn’t budge!

Fortunately, the house behind the shop was vacant …. except for the “beast” that had been unleashed in the bathroom.

The extra 35 feet of eel had come out through the back of the toilet, done a complete circuit of the small bathroom, out the door and down the hallway towards the kitchen. The spinning action of the eel had allowed it to grab the old carpet hall runner in a “death roll”.

When we had tried to wrestle the eel from the pipe, the old carpet had got stuck fast!

Of course we salvaged the situation, had the carpet cleaned, replaced the loo and successfully cleared the blockage.

Some 12 years later when I have a coffee with Bruno (who now has his own very successful business) and we laugh about our daily plumbing lives, telling those gathered about the dangers of the electric eel, Bruno still blushes and says “David, it’s just The Nature of The Beast“!

Plumbing Tip: Dont keep putting your resources into a black hole!

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