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My reader has been complaining that I've not updated - again! Sorry, reader!
Well, as the world now knows, it snowed in the UK over Christmas, and the country slithered to a standstill. I was lucky in that Warrington only received about 12" (1/3 metre) of the nasty cold slippery stuff. The council failed to grit/salt the roads, and everything on wheels came to a standstill for several days. It WAS nice and quiet!
Cats are not supposed to like being cold and wet, but Missy Underfoot hasn't read the rule-book. She loved it! At first, she was pouncing on the flakes, as they fluttered down, and then wondering where they'd gone. When it got deeper, she was bouncing about in it rather like a kangaroo, as it was up to her shoulders. The only fault she could find with it was - she couldn't find her pebbles, so couldn't play with them!
She watched me shovelling the pathway clear, and then had somewhere to run up and down on, as well.
Overnight it snowed some more, and when I opened the door in the morning, to let Missy out for her morning 'dig' she went thundering out, straight into another neck-deep drift.
She also discovered that the rainwater she used to drink from a convenient plant-pot saucer had gone all stiff and cold, too, and that she could stand on it. When she finally came back inside, she promptly tried walking on her water dish, and got very wet feet! It was amusing watching her standing in the water, alternately shaking her feet, then putting them back into the water, until she realized, and then left wet bootprints all over the floor! I will leave the vocal complaints to the imagination!
Now, in the UK, it is not permitted for a householder to clear the snow from the footpath in front of the property, only the paths actually inside the boundary, because the Elf and safety idiots have concluded that by clearing the public area, Joe Public might slip and fall, and would then be entitled to sue the person who cleared the snow. Yet at the same time, if Mr Postman (et al) should slip and fall INSIDE the boundary, the householder would be liable if the path has NOT been cleared. (Make sense of that if you can!)
SO, the public footpaths and the road, that had been covered in snow and not gritted, became packed ice, that was nicely polished and VERY slippery! The result being that all the infirm, aged, and the like were effectively trapped inside their homes.
Doreen was due to see her Specialist that week, but the Hospital cancelled all appointments. The same went for her Rocco's club, that was cancelled as well. The tv was garbage, as usual, and boredom and frustration was the name of the game.A new appointment was made - for wednesday two weeks ago, and we duly trotted along in a taxi, as the paths were too bad for a wheelchair. The result was - no change, come back in three months. £10 each way, please.
The council finally managed to grit the main road, at the end of our street, the day before it thawed, nearly 14 days into the ice. The back streets took a little while longer to clear, and there are still a few odd patches of snow-ice scattered around.
You may recall that I said (somewhere) that come January, DHL were abandoning the UK business - well, they did, and we have been sold to another company called Home Delivery Network. For the moment - until April I think, we are running as DHL network, in the DHL colours, but after that.... will the axe fall?
As part of preparing for the inevitable, we have been re-arranging all the household bills, and the like either into my name, or making them joint. Everything has gone smoothly - until we phoned NTL/Virgin, who provide our phone, tv, and broadband via the digital cable.
After pressing 1 for this, 2 for that, 3 for the other, 4 for other queries, and 5 for self-destruct, I finally got a live muppet on the other end of the wire, and explained what was wanted, a minor alteration of the address line on the billing statements, which are sent by e-mail to me anyway, just to keep things tidy. We wanted Mrs D changed to Mr E. A task that would take all of two seconds, as nothing else was to be altered, (the bill is already paid by direct debit from the joint account).
Mrs muppet told us there was a charge of £25 to alter the contract.
YES £25 per two seconds, which equals £750 a minute, or £45.000.00 an hour. Not a bad wage!
Needless to say - we told Virgin where to get off!
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Rain, rain, and more rain. I had provisionally planned to go off model-flying last weekend, but it rained, and the weekend before, and the week before that when I was nominally on holiday. At least rain mostly goes away when it has stopped, unlike snow. (And unlike those poor souls in Cumbria, whose homes are six feet under. When are town councils going to realize that areas marked on the map as flood plain - FLOOD when the river gets too high. And when are the mad builders going to realize that a nice flat field next to a river is flat because....... One month and three days, and it will all be over for another year. Maybe I can get through the traffic in town, then! (And that's on foot!) Tags: and more rain., christmas, model flying, rain
Current Music: raindrops keep falling....
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This is just so that my reader won't think I've forgotten about lj! Had a lot to do recently as the Christmas rush has begun at work, so we are putting in more time. Another four weeks, and it will go deathly quiet! One of the temp agency labour brought a head-cold in with him, and kindly passed it on to me. (and others). I had a day of itchy nose and sneezing, two days of runny nose, and a day with a headache. Doreen caught it off me, and ended up with bronchitis, and had to have a course of anti-biotics to get rid of it. She's almost ok again now, bus still has a harsh cough. She's had her first annual anti-flu jab, and will be getting the one for swine flu as soon as the stuff becomes available. When you consider - in about four weeks it will be her 'first' anniversary, although not one she wants to record. According to her Doc at the time, she shouldn't be here now, but is downstairs as I batter the keys, making a batch of Christmas cards for 'her' hospice, as a thank-you for keeping her going, and giving her a will to fight on. I may have put it in before, but she only went, in the first instance, because she heard that there was a crafting group there, and she hoped to learn a few techniques that she couldn't master. Now she is instructing the instructor! Oh, don't forget to look up - http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=13423as there are now two books to read! Tags: anti-virus, books., christmas cards, flu
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That was one rough weekend, and I'm glad it is over. It begins a long time back, really, about a year ago, our sixteen year old cat, Suki, began to lose weight, at round about the same time as Doreen fell ill, really, so we assumed that Suki was 'coming out in sympathy'. She had always been a picky eater, needing constant changes of food brands to please her, as well as the usual stuff of bits of chicken, tuna, or whatever was on the family table. Then - this last month she began to ignore everything put in front of her. She was still drinking water, but not eating, apart from an occasional nibble. So the vet took some more money off us, and took a sample of blood from Suki, which came back normal, just low on proteins, which was to be expected as she wasn't eating! Her weight fell off dramatically, of course, and nothing we could do would coax her to eat. The vet had given her a general booster and a steroid injection, and that helped a little, because for that day she ate a little, but then went backwards again. We had no choice other than have her put down, which happened last Friday morning. I had to go to work afterwards, of course, as you don't get time off for the death of pets. Then on Sunday, Missy Underfoot disappeared! She, as have all the others, is free to come and go as she sees fit, through the day, and normally comes in every couple of hours demanding to be fed again. She went out on Sunday at about 1030, and didn't come back for lunch, or tea, despite several rain showers. So I donned shoes and coat, and went looking, expecting to find a squashed corpse at the side of a road somewhere, but nothing...... Then, at about 2300 she wandered in, looking rather perplexed, and began playing merry hell because the food dish was empty! Where she had been is anyone's guess, but either she got shut into someone's shed or garage, or she had sneaked into someone's house, and got shut in, because she was dry, albeit cold. On Monday, she didn't stray beyond the garden, so she must have learned her lesson! Today, she's asleep on the bed, behind me, as I batter the keyboard. Tags: cats, lost and found, vets
Current Music: they seek him here, they seek him there...
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Vince, closely followed by Tom. I've known Vince for about fourty-five years, and tend to look on him as a second Dad. Tom I've known a little less long, but (and I have to be careful, he reads my lines!) we seem to be closer, somehow. At present I see little of either of them, due to my circumstances, (no I'm NOT locked up!) but know I only have to call, and they will be there for me. What more can a person ask? Tags: best friend, bff, writer's block
Current Music: When I'm sixty-four
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(for a change!) Talk of timing - she is booked in at the Vet's tomorrow (Monday) to have her love-life truncated. Today, Sunday, she began to come onto 'heat' for the first time! All the doors are shut and locked, to keep her in, Toms out, and to prevent any neighbours accidentally letting her out/them in! The cruel bit is - we aren't allowed to feed her after 1800 tonight, and she is used to being fed on demand (about ten times an hour!). So, she is most annoyed three times over! Suki is also protesting, but we cannot feed one and not the other, so they are both on starvation diets tonight! Guess who is NOT in their favourite books! Tags: cats, diets., vets
Current Mood:  sympathetic
Current Music: Set me free, why don't ya!
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It was just a tiny water droplet. This particular droplet was dangling from the corner of the cabinet, poised and ready to drop floorwards, where it would presumably have joined its uncounted predecessors, had it not been intercepted by a searching fingertip. 'Dad!' My son Chris called out, 'The water-heater is leaking!' I untangled myself from the computer keyboard, mouse, and assorted radio microphone wires that surrounded me, and went to investigate. Sure enough, a new droplet was forming in the corner of the cabinet, and the carpet beneath, what I could get at for all his 'junk', was damp. 'Don't worry about it.' I replied. 'It is probably the wind blowing the rain in through the exhaust vent.' (It had been raining heavily, and blowing hard, for a couple of days.) A handy container was positioned where the droplets fell, and left it to get on with it. After all, I was in the middle of drafting a letter to a friend who didn't have a computer, so I needed to get it done and posted, to catch the Saturday collection in a few hours time. Letter completed, printed off, enveloped, stamped, and ready for posting, I went into Chris's room, to check on what he was doing (and to check on how full the container was). It was - full, that is! Two pints or so of water in less than half an hour. Perhaps the heater really WAS leaking! Then, it was now turned midnight, and to call a plumber out at the weekend would be financial suicide! The container was replaced with a large plastic bowl for the night. On Saturday, the leak appeared to have stopped, so the bowl was emptied, and replaced, just in case. It didn't rain on Saturday, (well, not much!)Sunday was warmish and dryish, and the heater remained dry. Then on Sunday late afternoon - it began dripping again, but from several places at once. A quick excavation of the surrounding assorted bits of Chris's computers, bags, boxes, and unmentionable rubbish that should have been evicted a month ago allowed access, and a screwdriver persuaded the three screws that held the outer cabinet to the gubbins inside to let go. The 'cinder-tray', intended for catching the cremated remains of spiders and stray flying insects was full of water, which was seeping through the corners, where the casing was folded but not welded, and through the perforations where the pipework for the water inlet, outlet, and gas pipes, were clamped. With the water removed, and a torch illuminating the dark recesses, I watched for where the leak could possibly be, but wasn't. All the gland-nuts were tight, and the pipework in the heat-exchanger seemed intact. There was no visible leak but sure enough, a new puddle was beginning to form in the cinder tray. My probing screwdriver tried a few possible sources for tightness, but they all were, and still the leak leaked invisibly. I had to concede defeat. On Monday, before work, I dug out the telephone book, and looked for plumbers. Page after page of them were listed, so I picked a few at random, and then raised the telephone. The first one was booked up for a fortnight, emergency or not. The second one couldn't come until the following weekend, and suggested I turn the water off until then. I won't report my comment. Number three could come out immediately, but as I was going out to work that was no good, and Tuesday wasn't practical either,we agreed on ten-o-clock on Wednesday. Ten came and went, as did eleven, and twelve was rapidly approaching when the plumber turned up. He studied the white box on the wall, and agreed that it was leaking. Then he borrowed my screwdriver so he could remove the casing, (I had replaced it, to keep the fumes out of the bedroom!) and peered inside. Of course, it wasn't leaking at that particular time, and remained more or less dry, having dripped itself to mere dampness. We (I) turned the hot tap on, and let it run, then turned it off again on his call. 'Yes'. He agreed, 'It is leaking where you said it was.' (The main gas pressure control valve). 'There is nothing I can do, because it is too old to get the parts.' He poked about some more with my screwdriver, and got a fine spray of water from a seemingly solid pipe. 'I'll have to condemn it, because if that water gets into the gas pipe, it can cause an explosion!' 'Yes, ok, I'll have to see about getting it replaced, then.' I accepted the decision, the heater IS about 20 years old. 'The thing is, I'll have to shut it off, and seal the gas pipe.' He said. That would leave us with no hot water, and Doreen is disabled. I pointed this out. 'Sorry, but that's the rules!' He said. 'Now I've seen it, I can't pretend I haven't, and if it goes pop, it will be me that gets it in the neck.' (spelled a**e) So we had no hot water, except what we could boil in the kettle or pans, for that day, night, and the next morning. We had to let him sell us a new heater, fitted, etc, or have no hot water at all until whenever. He rolled up on Thursday morning, and began removing the old unit. Of course, the gas AND water had both to be shut off at the main valves for the duration. Four hours later, he was preparing to fit the new heater, then came downstairs to see if I had a nut (this size) anywhere about, as he was one short. A rummage in my box of odd nuts and bolts found one that fitted, and he 'borrowed' a few washers as well to match up the sizes with the other three already in situ. He claims that when the previous heater was fitted the person only used three nuts, and not four, to attach it to the flue and exhaust pipe. With the heater finally attached, he began connecting the pipes again. He had to manufacture a 'Z' bend in the water feed pipe, as the existing pipe and the new one didn't line up. Then he found that he had cut the vertical leg an inch short! Further checking found out why. The water pipe wasn't supported underneath the floorboards, and was free to move up and down. A new piece of copper pipe was cut, that necessary bit longer, and then he found that our gas pipe was a different o/d to the new one. Well, it would be - our house was made in feet and inches, and the heater was made in metrics! Of course he didn't have a suitable coupler, and had to go and find a plumbers merchant that did. Luckily I had warned work that I might be late, because..... Pipes finally connected, he began doing pressure checks at the meter, and found that the pressure was dropping fast. There was a leak somewhere. 'Perhaps it is because you haven't turned off the pilot light on the gas fire?' I suggested. That done, the pressure was stable. So now Doreen and I are £825 poorer, but we have a hot water thingy again. The wall we WERE going to build will have to wait a while longer. I considered asking him for a refund of £50 each for a nut and three washers, and the use of my screwdriver, but decided against it, in case when the thing settles, it leaks a bit from all the joins in the pipes. I should have been a plumber, because he charged £50 per hour labour charge, most of which he spent clanging pipes, and rattling a spanner inside the old metal cabinet, from what I could see. Yes, I could have fitted a new heater myself for nothing, but as I don't have a 'corgi' accredition thing that says I am qualified to cut up a copper pipe, it would have voided the house insurance. Tags: leaks, loadsamoney, plumbers, water heaters
Current Location: precarious
Current Mood:  pissed off
Current Music: Money, money, money, it's not funny..Abba.
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