Back in England for a week, and almost everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong. And of course the weather has been bad - cold and rainy. It all reached a peak on Friday night when I discovered there was no hot water, just as I stepped into my bath.
On Saturday morning we realised that the boiler wasn't working at all, so we switched on the immersion heater. After a couple of hours, it seemed that the immersion heater wasn't working either.
Photo from Flickr/Bashed. Creative Commons Licence.
After a number of abortive attempts to find someone who could come out and fix one or the other, or preferably both, we decided we could manage until Monday morning. Let me tell you, it's not as easy as it sounds.
Photo from Flickr/esterase. Creative Commons Licence.
Of course, Monday morning dawns, nothing, nobody arrives. Mid-afternoon the plumber does turn up but doesn't have the right parts. The immersion heater provoked one of those long intakes of breath and a shake of the head. Apparently it's marked in Fahrenheit! How long have we been using Celsius in the UK? Forty years? More?
So, for the time being, keep on with the cold baths.
BUT. At least the weather has improved, considerably, and I managed to get right to the top of St Catherine's Hill. Something to be grateful for (with apologies to Solomon).
One thing that I'm not very good at, is having to have a cold bath or shower! I just dread it. When the cold water hits my skin, it's like feeling sharp ice all over me...brrrrrrr
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the weather is at least improving. Hope you get that hot water up and running soon.
I cannot imagine having to take a cold bath. In fact, I think I would be best friends with my neighbors if I had to, just to borrow their shower or tub!
ReplyDeleteThe English weather confuses me. It is summer there now, imagine if this happened to you in the winter.
ReplyDeleteWe have the opposite here in Arizona- There is NO cold water. No matter what, it's always hot. Until sometime in December at least. Good luck with the cold baths!
ReplyDeleteooo, burrrr, a cold bath! I couldn't do it. I have to have my bathwater so hot that I come out looking like a lobster. It's not good for the skin, but it sure does help the aching bones.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck on getting your hotwater back, and soon.
If my sister were to write a blog, she could have written an almost identical post!
ReplyDeleteThis is where the local Y comes in handy.
ReplyDelete'Twas on Wednesday morning ....
ReplyDeleteThey got the immersion heater going, so warm baths again! Hair washing not such a penance :) But the replacement part for the boiler didn't solve the problem, and so we go on.... How much it's costing to heat the water by electricity, I really don't know.
I'm a bit of a hoarder, and the Grouch usually moans about the mess, but was grateful when I dug out his old mash tub to provide hot water, courtesy of better insulated neighbours, when our pipes froze on Xmas day a few years back. Hope you get a good plumber - I loathe spotty herberts!
ReplyDeletej
You see! Hoarders triumph in the end, don't we? What a day to have frozen pipes. When we were in Scotland we had one dreadful winter when several neighbours had frozen pipes, and subsequent bursts.
ReplyDeleteThe plumber is here this very minute and appears competent, if noisy.
Yes, but not as bad as Mother dearest fusing the entire house just as we were about to stick the bird in the oven (electric)! Know anywhere that sells fuses on Xmas day? Being resourceful we dug out the kettle BBQ - and neighbours took pity and boiled the veg.
ReplyDeletej