h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's still not finished. Yesterday's bulletin was that they were still waiting for the full set of fixings from the shower screen supplier. Ho hum!

Then this morning I trod on a wet patch of carpet just outside the living room, and discovered that the pump was now leaking away merrily in the airing cupboard. Three phonecalls later, message from the organising guy this afternoon: I can have new seals (£112 + VAT) or a new unit (approx £680). What???!!!

I took advice from our Buildings Manager at work and an engineer mate of his, who both said to go for the seals and hope that solves the problem. So that's what I've decided to do. Meanwhile the leak now has a teatray underneath, but is leaking decidedly less since I turned off the stopcock when I got home. You'd have thought the plumber might have thought that was a good idea ... no?

PS: When I went to get on my bike to go home this afternoon, I found a note on it: "Your keys are at Economics reception" - I'd only left them in the bike lock this morning! Needless to say, Economics reception was closed, but luckily some very nice people in the Economics library managed to track down the caretaker, who found the keys for me. Including my house key, so I didn't have to sleep in the office.

Not my best day of the year so far.

Oh no it isn't. Filled up the tray in a couple of hours, and then I couldn't get the tray out without spilling it, so had to bail it out with a dishcloth.

I foresee a disturbed night.

Annie we are not sick of your bathroom problems - anything to take our minds off our own defective infrastructure!

The jams appear to have a failing pump for bringing our heating oil fifty yards or so uphill to the boiler. Have just spent a small fortune filling the tank [a big one so we get bulk discount] and we now can't burn it. Plus the emergency call-out fee for Gary, who services the boiler but doesn't do oil pumps, though he did admit to taking one apart once to see how it worked.

Mmmmmmm..... plumbing.

Annie! A cure for all your house-related blues! Swap houses with Peet!, even for five minutes, not a second more - you will quickly come to realise just how minuscule your problems are.

Sue and Douglas

You should have slept in the office, ignorance is bliss!


I know you're sick of your bathroom problems but I was just relieved to see it was you, I was fearful of reading of Peet's lavatorial problems!

Thanks guys - all the above comments raised a (rather wan) smile!

Slept very badly, with a vivid nightmare in which I opened the airing cupboard to find all the pipes spouting water everywhere. Went down at about 2am to empty the tray under the leak and replace soaked towels surrounding it.

Several phonecalls with project manager today, in between meetings at work. In summary: new seals for the pump are ordered, but might take two or three days to arrive, because they are not standard stock (old pump); it is possible to turn off the source of the leak by closing the isolation valves with a screwdriver. So in my lunch-hour, I cycled home, struggled with the valves (the grooves in some of the screws were worn due to previous use), and then rushed back to work.

This evening, I'm pleased to say that the leak has stopped. However, I now have only one functioning tap - the cold tap in the kitchen.

Feel like having a day off tomorrow due to 'stress', but we have an important lunch for headteachers, and the Classics Open Day. Anyway, it will probably be less stressful to be at work and have other things to think about.

Watch this space.