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

Earlier today, I was fretting a little about the danger of my life being a bit dull over the summer, what with no University and none of the cultural life that goes with it. Little did I know that before the afternoon was out, I'd have two of the emergency services visiting my flat.

Chateau Ormondroyd is a first-floor flat that is entirely electrically-powered. Hot water comes courtesy of a boiler in the bathroom. When I got up this morning I noticed that the boiler seemed unusually hot, making the bathroom a bit steamy: but I checked and the boiler's switch was set to 'normal', and I hadn't left any hot taps running. So I went out for a walk, just for a couple of hours...

When I returned, I saw to my horror that the front door of my flat had been smashed in, and I thought I'd been burgled. But there was a note on the door handle from the fire brigade. It explained that they'd had to break in to cut off the water supply to the boiler, which had burst while I was out, soaking the bathroom carpet, triggering the building's alarm system and summoning the fire crew.

After I'd been in for a few minutes, the doorbell rang and I had a visit from the police, who'd been alerted by the firefighters. The two officers who called on me were sympathetic but could do little to help. They offered to get my door boarded up, but fortunately I had the presence of mind to ask whether I'd be expected to pay for the service. The answer was affirmative. The answer to whether I could afford this was negative. So there was nothing for it but to wait until tomorrow morning, when I can contact the estate agents who run the building.

Which is a bit of a nuisance, because for now I'm lumbered with a broken door - meaning that I daren't go out - and no hot water.

But I have had one memorably surreal experience today. I was standing in the bathroom when I felt a drop of water fall on me. I looked up and noticed that condensation had left big droplets of water all over the ceiling, leaving it looking rather like bubble-wrap. So I ended up getting out my mop and reaching up to mop the ceiling.

And the moral of the story is: be careful what you wish for...

May you live in interesting times

Cor, blimey ! this isn't* the kind of excitment I gues you want? Lets hope it never happens again on the good point, your landlor/lady might get a new boiler put in

I've had a bit more 'excitement' today. It turned out that the problem had actually been the thermostat on the immersion heater, which had simply died and left the water getting hotter and hotter. I thought that the fire folks had switched it off, but it turned out that they'd only switched off the water and not the power.

So I woke up early this morning to find my flat like a sauna. I went to the bathroom to see if I could switch off the source of the heat, and got an electric shock from the light switch. Finally I managed to cut off the power using the switches on the fuse box.

Still, credit to my landlord. I rang up first thing this morning, and he was round within minutes along with a handyman who's changed the thermostat and put a new lock on my door. I still had to mop the ceiling again though!

Phew! It certainly sounds like an eventful couple of days...

at least you've got a decent landlord!
I've had some stinkers in my time and some shocking tales of woe with regard to appliances, heating systems and general structural security of properties. (The best being a student flat where we only didn't die from carbon monoxide because the land lord hadn't fixed the window either - comedy!)

But poor, poor, Om
- soaked, steamed, electrocuted, roasted, door kicked in - all within the space of a few hours.
Bet you'll be humming radiohead - 'no alarms and no surprises please' - for a week or two.

I wish you boredom.
love kim

I suppose I should be grateful for our heating system, though it has to be coaxed into producing hot water and has a tendency to turn itself off halfway through a shower it has not yet exploded on us.

Hope its all sorted now Ormy!

It is, . And I've learned a lot about carpet cleaning!

*BOOM*

Sorry, dear. That can't have been fun at all. You seem to have come through it ok, though, which is what's important.

Jeez, I'm glad my life is boring...just my freezer gone last week...and having two teeth out today...