What a week!
There’s been ups and downs, thrills and spills, jubilation and despair. It’s been enough to drive any person to the edge of sanity and back again, possibly with a short layover in leafy mild hysteria.
And it’s only Wednesday.
Drip Fed
We’ll start with the good, which is, to be fair, very very good.
Regular readers (you poor fools) may well remember that the Seated Perspective household has had a leaking boiler for the last couple of weeks, something that occurred just as the electrical problems we’d had were sorted out. This meant we needed to get a new boiler, as Mr. Drippy needed to be taken out back and put out of its (our) misery.
As of last week’s blog we were in the midst of gaining quotes for what was set to be an expensive job. Two visits to the house and one phone call later, we made our decision and plumped for the quote that was a) the cheapest b) Could do the work the soonest and c) actually bothered to turn up for an inspection.
We weren’t disappointed.
My Boiler Vinnie
At a mostly sociable time on Monday morning a nice bloke named Greg turned up and was soon busily ripping out Mr. Drippy. A few short hours later, and a new boiler (Vinne the Veissmann) was up and running, with the system flushed out and a new thermostat controlling the temperature. It’s made a big difference to our lives.
Admittedly , it’s not all that cold at the moment. Not for February, anyway. It’s still nice to have reliable and controllable heating though. It’s still nice to be able to ‘set it and forget it’ rather than having to constantly consider whether one more hour of heat is needed to top up the temp.
The big win, for me, is the hot water coming through the shower, a new fitting we had, uh, fitted last summer. This was something that, as Mr. Drippy faded away, turned from a provider of properly hot, properly fierce, rainfall showers to something more tepid and feeble. The water still came down, because, well, gravity, but showers once again became a chore rather than an indulgence.
Not any more, though. Vinnie provides us with pressure and heat aplenty, meaning Tina my always-amazing wife and I are now in bitter competition for his services.
And the heat feels different somehow, too. It feels more spread through the house. More responsive in the shower. More comforting. Like a warm hug. It’s led to a feeling of euphoria that lasted ooh, just over twenty four hours
Part Time
You see, yesterday afternoon, the repairman came round to see to our washing machine.
This was something that had been dormant ever since the issue with the constantly tripping fuse box, as I’ve previously mentioned. The verdict was not good.
Apparently, since his last visit, which was back in November, the washer developed multiple faults, caused, the man said, by it being kept in the garage. It could not be fixed until parts were ordered, so off he tootled, back to his van, where he sat parked for a disconcertingly long time before driving off.
And then we got the phone call,
New For Old
The machine was unrepairable and, despite the insurance being on a repair or replace basis they would be doing… nothing.
This was due to the location of the machine, something not stipulated in any policy documents and not mentioned after any previous repair as potentially causing the policy to be void.
I received the news with all the calm composure one might expect, terminated the call, and, after a cup of tea to calm the nerves got on to the actual insurers (the repair was enacted by Indesit, but through Domestic & General). This resulted in a complaint being logged and, after a follow up phone call today, the offer of a new machine on the proviso it gets kept in the actual house. Something we’re going to have to make some room for.
It’s going to mean more expense and more hassle, but that seems to be the theme for this year. It’s almost like, having come up with an aim to actually go on an overseas holiday this year (it would be our first in eight years) the universe has decided we really, really shouldn’t.
Oh well, as I said last time, I hear Cleethorpes is nice!
Until next time.
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Hey, there! If you enjoyed reading any of the above, why not take a look at some of my published work? Below you’ll find links to a number of short stories I’m lucky enough to have included in anthologies. I’d love to know what you think.
New Tales Of Old
Death Ship
Pestilence: Drabbles 1
Reaperman: Drabbles 3
The Musketeers Vs Cthulhu
Eldritch Investigations
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