Timetable Chaos

Robbie was absolutely evil this morning, the shower had put him in a bad mood - it has died! Ge was like a gorilla in a rage, charging around the house thumping and bumping and growling with frustration, not to mention the string of expletives that we were treated to. I can understand him being frustrated but it is not the end of the world, we have plenty of hot water and he can still have a bath until the shower is back in action. When I tried to point out that it wasn't an insurmountable problem he almost bit my head off, but it became obvious what the problem was - it has messed up his timings and thrown his whole morning timetable into chaos! The shower is not quite 5 years old, surely it should last longer than that!

Too Hot To Handle

We had a couple of weeks without heating because we were waiting for the plumber to come and mend the boiler. It wasn't a big issue because we still had hot water and we had the gas fire if we needed it so it wasn't cold, but obviously we wanted it to be done quickly so that the heating was available when we needed it. The plumber came on Saturday and the heating was restored to full working order – and that was when the trouble started! Robbie will not stop tampering with the thermostat and the timer. I woke up at 3am on Sunday morning and I thought I had a fever it was so hot, then I realised that the boiler was thundering away heating the whole house to tropical extremes. Robbie had allegedly set the timer the day before so the heating should not have been on and the thermostat certainly shouldn't have been set at maximum. I woke Robbie and demanded that he should go and turn it off, he showered me with insults and we had a full scale row before he reluctantly plodded downstairs to do the deed. Since then we have had a battle, I set the thermostat and the timer and when he thinks I will not notice he overrides the timer and turns up the temperature. I could understand it if the house was cold, but it isn't, it is warm and comfortable. This morning he whizzed the thermostat around to maximum as soon as he got up, so when I went to the bathroom I was in danger of burning myself on the radiator – can you imagine explaining that at the casualty department! I am getting really fed up with this ongoing battle - I wonder if they make tamper proof controls?

The Big Bang Theory

On Saturday evening I went to bed at about 11pm. At about the same time Robbie found a huge puddle on the floor in the kitchen, I just assumed that I hadn't closed the washing machine properly and I thought little of it. I vaguely recall Robbie coming up to tell me there was another puddle in the kitchen, but I was too sleepy to make sense of it. Robbie came to bed at some point because I remember him waking me up bu bouncing on the bed. My next clear memory was at about 1.30am when a very worried Laura woke me up to say that the boiler was making terrible noises and she thought it was about to explode. With admirable powers of delegation I assured her that Robbie would go and turn everything off and we would deal with it in the morning. Robbie went without a word of complaint and returned in due course to assure me that everything was turned off. He promptly went to sleep again, but I was unsettled and I remained awake for hours worried that something dreadful would happen.

In the morning I was thinking more logically and I realised that the leak had come from the radiator not the washing machine and the boiler was having a tantrum because the pressure had fallen. Laura had a friend staying with her on Saturday night and she said her friend thought it was a bomb so she hid her head under the pillow -not much use if it had been a bomb! Laura had different priorities, she went to rescue her shoes, she move her new, very expensive wellies (from Asos) as far from the boiler as possible to make sure they were safe!!

I'm so fed up, I hate having to have the boiler repaired.

Happy Birthday Emily 31.01.08

It was Emily's birthday today and for the first time ever we have not been able to see her on her birthday. She will be back from university tomorrow, so she will just extend her birthday a bit. She wanted money rather than a present but we also bought her some speakers for watching films on her laptop. I added a silly little present to make her laugh, a talking Clanger - she loves the clangers and the noise they make always makes her laugh. Two of her flatmates are not English and she found it very difficult to explain to them what the Clangers were!

The plumber came to replace the hot water cylinder today. I hate having jobs like that done because it causes so much chaos. Nothing in our household seems to be simple or uneventful and this was no exception. We had a flood in the kitchen and the new cylinder leaked quite badly so the man had to come back, but finally we have hot water again - bliss!!

It was so windy that our recycling boxes (and contents) mad a bid for freedom and had to be weighted down, and the fence down the right hand side of the back garden decided it would prefer to swap sides and it now looks more like decking than fencing. I am fed up with that fence, I think we would be better off with a wall but I expect that will be expensive.

One of Those Days 25.01.08

Thursday was one of those days. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but our hot water failed a couple of weeks ago, the central heating still works but it is so frustrating not having hot water. We still have a working shower so we don't smell, well not unless Robbie has been over enthusiastic with the aftershave again - that can be a breath taking experience! Anyway I am grateful that we have a working shower, but I miss my bath, there is nothing quite like a leisurely Sunday morning listening to The Archers in the bath - with two cups of tea, of course! Having been messed around by the first couple of plumbers we contacted, we finally had an appointment for someone to come and fix the problem yesterday. I had spent the whole day planning a long hot bath that evening, but when I arrived home at about 6.15 I could tell by Robbie's face that it was bad news. Still no hot water! Apparently the plumber thinks we need a new cylinder and it can't be fitted until next week. I'm not convinced that he is correct, so I intend to check that out first but whatever the outcome we are facing another weekend without hot water. Our boiler is only 4 years old, so I am unimpressed to say the least! Oh well, I expect we will sort it out eventually.

A Frustrating Day 11.08.07

I woke this morning to find Robbie already awake and sitting on the edge of the bed. He said he had to pop into work just for an hour or so, the journey takes more than an hour each way and that hour at work would have turned into one of those elastic hours that lasts almost all day! I know there was a good reason for wanting to go to work, but he had been feeling ill all night and he had commitments at home too and I made him choose the holiday or work. He is not a fast learner but eventually he worked out that I was serious and he decided to stay at home.

Our new washing machine was due to be delivered so he plodded off downstairs to tidy the kitchen and pull out the old washing machine. He reappeared a little later looking like a drowned rat, it seems that round one of his fight to displace the old washing machine was won conclusively by the washing machine! He was unable to isolate the water pipe and got an unexpected shower. He went back to try again and after a couple more dispiriting failures he finally managed to get the hot water pipe into the waste pipe so at least we didn't have to paddle around the kitchen - and the floor was extra clean! I once vowed that if I ever married again I would marry a plumber, having failed miserably in that particular quest I demanded that Robbie should leave it alone and get a plumber NOW!

The new washing machine came and the old one trundled of to the place where washing machines go to die. We waited, and waited and waited for the plumber, it was well past 3pm before he arrived. He made short work of the problem, devastated my bank account, and left to enjoy his weekend. All Robbie had to do then was to remove the protective fixings and get the machine on, just one problem - he didn't have the right tools for the job and wanted to be taken to the DIY shop to buy them. I used to have the correct tools, but 'Squirrel Nutkin' gets hold of them and stashes them in obscure places, then when we need them he denies all knowledge of them. I had so much washing to do, as well as countless other jobs so I wasn't amused, but when Robbie insisted on shaving before going out I lost the plot and after a 'full and frank' exchange of views he retreated to the bathroom and I thundered off to buy the socket set alone! I returned even poorer with sufficient tools to rebuild the entire house and finally the new washing machine was commissioned. My blood pressure must have been off the radar by this time and I really did feel like harming Robbie!

Later in the day we went to Tesco's to get supplies for the girls and to get some stuff to take with us. All was going well until Robbie got to the clothes section, he had his heart set on some terrifyingly loud shorts with big red flowers all over them. I hadn't the energy to argue and he bought two pairs of shorts and three T shirts. Soon afterwards I was innocently selecting some ladies hygiene items when Robbie came along and announced in a very loud voice that they had started to sell my preferred brand of tampons again, he was so excited by this that he was attracting attention. My look of horror was ignored and he proceeded to sort through all the boxes on display looking for the correct size, giving a running commentary as he did so. When the floor refused to swallow me up, I slunk away to hide in the frozen food section!

More Bathroom Blues

After Robbie's 'help' in the bathroom on Saturday, we were left with an annoying leak from the back of the toilet. As a consequence Robbie had ear ache and finding a plumber was top of his priority list on Monday morning. I didn't think he could come to much harm armed only with the Yellow Pages - but I underestimated him! He booked a plumber and rearranged his work on Tuesday so that he could be off in the morning to be at home for the plumber; he had to work late into the evening instead.

On Tuesday morning the plumber turned up and set about rectifying the problem. I wasn't there but somehow Robbie got into conversation with him and discovered that I had known him in the course of my work some years ago. I meet some very unusual people, most of them nice, but I wouldn't necessarily trust them with my plumbing! Robbie had not only found a useless plumber, but a (hopefully ex) flasher into the bargain! Don't worry there were no nasty shocks - Robbie obviously wasn't his type! In fact the chap reassure Robbie that he was wearing his 'long johns'. As you may have deduced we still have a leak, in fact we now have two leaks! I am totally frustrated but I am determined that Robbie will get it sorted - practice makes perfect, or so they say!