Plumbing the depths

Well, an exciting day around these parts. As I posted earlier I decided to just go ahead and seek the help of a pro for our plumbing woes. I had a helpful neighbor who was trying to lend a hand, but of course it can be a lot of extra work for someone with his own job/family/house. So, I called the closest plumbing company first thing this morning. They were on vacation-- I have to assume because they did not answer or have a machine on. I called them for about an hour just to make sure because I spoke with three people and they all recommended the same place. But alas, it was not to be and so I went to plan B, which was choosing the first listing from the online telephone guides under the heading plumber (loodgieter in Dutch). I do not like to be SO unscientific, but I really had no other choice. The first guy answered, a major breakthrough, only to tell me that he was already on vacation and busy. I asked him to recommend someone not on vacation and he gave me the number of the helpful Ronnie. He was GREAT-- this is not your typical plumber-- there were no loose pants with an inadequate belt on Ronnie-- he was the most kempt, neatest plumber i have ever seen-- just polished and precise and very kind. He even spoke English. He put a jumpsuit on over his clothes-- they are big on jumpsuits here, and crawled right under the house and got to work, making crazy bumping, banging, and ouch noises along the way (he told me later he now has a few holes in his back from the nails coming in from the floor above. Yikes! I hope he is up on his tetanus shots, but I didn't go into it because his English was not quite that good).
Anyway, he found this doozey of a busted pipe, which he left for us as a memento. He said my husband would want to see it. He said there were some other weak spots within the system, but to combat this he put some stuff in the pipes when he refilled the radiators with water, which should strengthen any weak spots.
Sorry I cannot be more specific, but it made sense when he said it and my pregnancy brain cannot make much more out of this information at this point in time. I have hot water now, this I know

Finally, you should know that this is how we like to sit sometimes when we are relaxing