Was Yesterday A Good Day, !!Now Let Me Think!!
Posted By Peter Miller On 10/02/2007 @ 07:38 pm In Day To Day | 7 Comments
The title says it all, well, was it a good day, I am not really sure, still getting over it. Okay, let me try and explain. We are currently in kitchen re-design mode, it is not far from being finished. All of the old cupboards, drawers, shelves and surfaces have been replaced by shiny new ones.
So, the next move is to replace the existing floor tiles with a laminate floor. I know a man, a very, very good man and his name is Bob (more about Bob will appear soon because I will promote his business). Bob has been doing a lot of work for us lately, so we called him back in to do the floor. The floor is now down and looks wonderful.
The next move was to replace the skirting board which was removed to allow fitting of the laminate. Now here is where it all started to go a little topsy turvy. Some of you may already have guessed what might have happened.
The skirting board is flying up, myself and Bob are going great guns, we are using no - nails glue and the occasional nail to hold it in place. I had just put a piece in the area where the fridge lives,
“What is that hissing noise I thought to myself”? I can’t smell gas, so it can’t be that but OH NO!
The floor is starting to get wet and so is the wall. Okay, now you have guessed it, I had pierced a radiator pipe.
“Bob, Bob, I have pierced a radiator pipe”
“You are joking” he replied
“Nope” I said “I think it could get like old faithful”.
Ring Ring, Ring Ring, (the sound of Deep Purple playing Rat Bat Blue coming out of my phone). I answer the phone.
“Hi there who is it please”,
“It’s Dave at the garage your car is ready, can you pick it up ASAP because I need to leave the garage before I get trapped by the snow”.
What a dilemma, six inches of snow has fallen, I have to pick my car up (£268.00 for a replacement heater) and the radiator pipe is urinating all over the kitchen floor and underneath the laminate that Bob has just recently laid.
Bob says, “go and pick your car up I will try and sort this out”.
“Cheers Bob” I replied.
Then, Bob says “I need some microbore to fix this but I do not have any”.
Things are going from bad to worse. Bob has to move his van so Lyn can get her car off the drive. While he is doing that I am trying to turn the water off at the mains in our garage. I am panicking and I am rushing about. I run towards the garage door and in no time at all (in a split second) I am lying horizontal on the floor on top of the re-cycle bins. You see, the floor was wet, my shoes had no traction and I went arse over tit. I have a nice bruise to prove this.
Okay, Lyn takes me to the garage to pick up the mended car. The roads are atrocious, snow, snow, snow, snow, 20 minutes to do 2 miles. We arrive at the garage, pay for the repairs and start our way back home, praying that there has been some divine intervention.
I am following Lyn in her car, she stops, Bob has phoned her asking if she can get hold of a microbore connector from the DIY place we are near to (Collis’). She goes running into the store then comes running back out,
“They don’t have any” she tells me “but there is a plumber shop on Morley Road, by the CO-OP.
We start out for the CO-OP, a 2 mile journey takes 40 minutes, roads are gridlocked.
Lyn goes running into the plumbers then comes running out again.
She shouts to me “have you got any change, I can’t use my card because the value of goods is less than £5.00″
“No sorry” I replied.
Then a miracle happens, my sister in law comes walking out of the CO-OP, so we raid her purse. The microbore is purchased and we start on our way home.
Here is where another near disaster occurs. On the way back cars are stuck trying to get up a hill in the snow. I am moving along nicely but then have to stop. I try to move forward again, no chance, I try to reverse, no chance. I manage to turn the car around and then get stuck again, the wheels are spinning, and the clutch is burning out.
“Stuff this” I think to myself. I manage to pull it onto a curb. I turn off the lights, turn off the engine, get out of the car, press the remote button and walk away, leaving it to the plight of other motorists who are bound to crash into it.
I get into Lyn’s car, and we toddle off home. We give Bob the microbore, he cuts the pipe attaches the adaptor, braises the pipe and low and behold no more leaking pipe.
Prior to this Bob had to drain the system. So when the water was turned back on the system had to be bled, this included bleeding the central heating and hot water system which took a good 2 hours.
The snow kept coming so Bob was stranded. He would have to stay the night. We all went to the local pub, met up with my brother Tony and his wife Mandi, we drank merrily, played some pool, then left. And to top it off, on the way back, I went arse over tit again.
Was yesterday a good day. If all this happened to you, what would your answer be?
First 3 photos, left to right. 1. The offending pipe. 2. The bit Bob repaired. 3. Bob
Some photos of yesterday’s snow, in mono. Exceptionally close to where I live.
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