What I Did Today, By Me
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♥Feb. 5th, 2013 // 07:56 pm♥
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This morning, Mike woke me up Far Too Early so that I could go to my Pilates class.
The traffic was inexplicably bad getting into Bexley. This is often the case.
I phoned the vet. After speaking to the receptionist, the secretary, a vet and the receptionist again, I managed to establish that a Veteran Health Check does include an eye test, and costs £60 (cf, eye test for about £45), so I booked it. (I've been a little concerned that GB's eyes were going for a while, but in the last couple of weeks he's been irrationally scared every time he went on the side of the school where there are bushes with associated occasional rustling noises, so I am now going to get them checked.)
I Pliated. I do like Pilates. Apparently, the inexplicable traffic was on two of the three roads into Bexley, and was genuinely inexplicable.
I went to the yard, groomed GB and went for a ride in the woods with the yard handyman, which was lovely: we hadn't had a good natter in ages, and GB was very good about keeping up with his only moderately elderly horse.
Then I came home (inexplicable traffic had inexplicably vanished as inexplicably as it arrived) and washed my hair. Then I had lunch and put some laundry on while I settled down with last week's Archers Omnibus to do my nails.
There was a mysterious sound of running water in the kitchen. I had a look but the tap as off so... Odd. Back to the nails.
There was a second sound of running water. I thought about ignoring it but decided I'd better check. This time, there was a pool of water on the floor....
I paused the washing machine (I do like the pause button) and pulled it an the dishwasher out from against the wall. Did I mention that I'd been in the middle of doing my nails?
I unpaused the washing machine. Water spurted out of the place where the drain pipe from the washer goes into the pipe into the wall. I paused it again.
I ransacked the airing cupboard and spread towels liberally about the floor: even though downstairs now has radiators rather than the in-ceiling heating, I am aware of just how high our building's insurance for flood damage is on account of said in-ceiling heating. (Well, presumably downstairs decided it was cheaper to put radiators in than get theirs fixed when it broke, which says something!) It's possible that we may now need a new set of guest towels.
And then, like a sensible wife, I IMed Mike to say "Washing machine leaking everywhere" and went back to Archers and starting again with my nails.
After a bit, I realised he hadn't replied and decided to Investigate Further.
(Those with long memories may recall the last time I Investigated Further in a plumbing incident. It involved taking the front off an electric shower and then turning it on to see if I could tell where the water was leaking from. While standing in the bath. I was quite firmly forbidden from future plumbing incident investigation, but it was a while ago. I would link to a post, but I suspect it was from Before LJ.)
It turned out that water also spurted out of the same place (and the equivalent for the dishwasher) when I put water down the sink disposal unit. I updated my non-responsive husband with this information, and, investigating energy exhausted, went back to my nails.
A bit later, with still no response from Beloved Husband, I thought about phoning him but then decided that I could do it all by myself. I found the number of the plumber we used five years ago and called him: he still lives over the canal from us, and is still trading, but couldn't come until tomorrow. I asked him to do so.
Beloved Husband eventually reappeared on IM. He asked if the sink worked. I poured water down it and observed that it was draining slowly and, when it did, mysteriously dribbling into the cupboard under the sink rather than going down the drain. He suggested an emergency plumber might be a better bet, so I called Local Plumber to explain /apologise (he was quite nice about it) and then called the emergency plumbers.
About an hour later (as promised) a plumber appeared. He offered to take his shoes off, which got points from me, and then, after I'd explained and he'd checked that the bathroom was draining ok, set to work with what appeared to be a drill with a bottle brush on the end. This went on for quite some time. After a while, he switched from the washing machine drain to the sink drain (and, incidentally, said that the washer on the sink plug hole had gone, hence the water dribbling into the cupboard when it hung around for long enough to not drain). Some time after that, he went "Eww!" and declared that he'd removed a big lump of hair. Checking revealed it to be short and dark: some people are attempting to blame the occasional washing of GB's rugs and saddle pads, but I think that Mike is a far more likely culprit, as far more of his things get washed. So there.
Mike and the nice man sorted out money and things while I switched the washing machine off pause and... yelled "It's doing it again!"
The plumber got his tools back and tried again. Half an hour later, we tried again and this time (fingers crossed), although it blew the circuit breaker the first couple of times we tried (plugs, of course, being very close to those afore-mentioned pipes....), it seems to be working. (As in, I've now re-done that original load and started on the towels, which I fear are a lost cause.)
"I thought a few days ago that the sink was draining a bit slowly," I said to Mike as the plumber finally left. I am under stern instructions to put some drain unblocker down it next time I think that.
On this experience, if you need an emergency plumber in the south east, DS Serve are recommended. Nice chap, polite, offered to take his shoes off and at least made a show of wiping the kitchen floor after himself, didn't take the piss with the half-hourly billing (£70 plus VAT per).
And now I shall finally finish doing my bloody nails.... |
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