My roommate Rob [1] answered the door. An older gentleman there asks if we've been having any plumbing problems. [2] Upon hearing this, I head towards the front door.
“Yes,” I said. “This past Saturday.”
“Okay, there's a problem with the sewer system here and we can't repair it until tomarrow, so until then if you can keep the water usage to a miminum that would help,” he says.
“Okay, will do,” I said.
Ah, so that explains the odd behavior I saw on Saturday.