Rene Descartes developed a philosophy known as the Method of Cartesian Doubt.  More or less that means do not accept anything as true if there is the slightest possibility that is isn't.  This applies to calling a plumber, I learned yesterday.

Before I showered yesterday, I heard the sound of rushing water in the wall of the bathroom. I did not think much of it.  When I am downstairs and someone is showering I can hear the water in the pipes.  So I figured maybe Eve was doing laundry (never mind that the washer and dryer are downstairs and it would not make sense if she was doing laundry to hear water rushing upstairs).

Even then walked in the bathroom and heard the same sound of rushing water in the wall.  I asked if she was doing laundry.  She wasn't.  I inched closer to the wall, and it was louder, as if water was pouring in.  I went downstairs and put my ear to walls but heard nothing. Odd.

Back upstairs Eve was frantic about needing to call a plumber. Something was wrong. I turned off the water supply to the house.  Still, the noise continued.

Then, leaning again towards the sound, I felt the countertop vibrating. What was going on? What was vibrating? And then I realized what it was.  My electric toothbrush was in a ceramic cup, and was on, vibrating the cup, and the tray it was in. I turned it off.  The sound of rushing water stopped.  We laughed at how stupid we were.

The point though is that we were convinced water was cascading through our walls.  The sound was as real as could be. There was no doubt.

Descartes was right. Reality can be very confusing.  It is easy to swear to something as true when it is clearly not.  Good thing we didn't call the plumber to turn off my toothbrush.