Latest moan from you and me - 2016

They always say that . Built in obsolescence!

 

It's now Thursday and the saga continues.

They didn't come back on Monday but arrived Tuesday. Whilst digging the road to find the water leak they cut through the electrics, again . Emergency electrical engineers turn up and then need to go away to get a pump to pump out the water so they can see where the cable has broken.

Once the water has been, and is being, pumped out they fix the problem by having to cut the mains and our electric feed and repair the sections with new, big, joints. They take their pump away and tell the water board that the electrics are fixed.

Nobody came on Wednesday so I phoned their emergency line. The man said that according to his notes the men have been on Tuesday and then gone. So they have marked the work as finished!! I tell him the story and he says that they will have to raise it as a new job.

That takes until this morning. The men turn up with a high pressure pump and pump out big hole. The 'boss' checks back on the notes from the other job and they have said that they think the leak is in the footpath and not the road. How they can work that out when you can't see where the water is coming from is beyond me. The inspector agrees with me but says that the engineers have said so, therefore that's what they have to go on.

Two hours later a big lorry with a crane on turns up. I ask what they've come for and they said it's to fill the hole in and then, later on, another team will come along and tarmac the repair. I said, why are you filling it in when they will need to dig out again.

"Oh, well!" "That's a separate job!!!!!" "Also the work has gone on so long that the Council have told them they have to reinstate the road as their licence has run out. They then have to apply for another licence.

Tarmac is finished but the lights and cones have to remain for another day for the tarmac to set. Then it will be the weekend and, I suppose, they won't start again until Monday. In the meantime, of course, the water leak will probably start lifting the new tarmac

Maybe they'll surprise me and come along tomorrow and do the job. Of course, where they say they intend digging through the footpath is exactly where the high pressure gas main runs - and where our electricity cable also runs.

 

@Jiffy

Send them here so they can show them how to do it.

 

Why is it that sods law seems to apply all the time - when one thing breaks, it is usually followed by an avalanche of other bills??

First there was the gazebo that decided to break a few days before we were hosting a barbecue party for the entire clan - that couldn't be repaired, so had to be replaced.

Then, my laptop started playing up - to be fair, it hasn't been a happy machine for some time now, mainly because it has had some hard use over the years and absolutely zero in the way of maintenance, however the real problem was the DC power socket that was failing.

On Monday I decided to get it dismantled and have a look to see if I could fix it, to find that I needed a part. A bit of scouring the web later, I came up trumps on ebay for less than a fiver, so I ordered it.

Yesterday, we all went for our eye tests (I was overdue by six months, and had cracked a lens on my only pair of specs some time ago and had been putting up with it ever since); as always, there was a slight change to both Mrs C's and my prescriptions, and new glasses were needed - thick end of £400, thank you very much. I have a referral to my GP too as the optician feels that my wonky left eye needs looking at further, with a view to having it operated on to correct it.

When we got home, there was yet another dose of swearing from the kitchen, as the fridge had destroyed yet another load of food - - it has been getting gradualy worse for some time, but this past month or so it has only two settings; off or frozen solid. Anything that goes remotely near to the back of the fridge would be ruined, and there is a sheet of ice that is getting thicker by the day. Apparently, this is not unknown for this type of fridge, as it is due to a thermostat failure, and the thermostat cannot be replaced as it is sandwiched in between the inner and outer shells and sealed in. In fairness, it has managed ten years, which is probably some sort of record for a modern fridge, especially one wearing the Hotpoint badge.

So, on to AO to buy a new one - - by the time we were done, we had spent the thick end of £800 on a new fridge (Siemens), but at least it has a five year warranty as standard. That didn't stop AO trying to sell me a 5yr warranty earlier on today, because theirs would be better than Siemens (how, I have no idea, when the Siemens one is full parts and labour!) - anyway, it is coming on Saturday.

The part arrived for the laptop today, and as is always the way with these sort of things it rapidly turned into open-heart surgery and all because one screw was hidden underneath a large section of components that had to be removed; by the time I was that far in, I ended up doing a full strip-down, and then had to clean, reseat and re-paste the entire cooling system (remarkably complex, but mighty impressive at the same time). Then, after reassembly, it was on to a complete reformat and fresh installation of Windows, and of course all the other programs that we need thereafter. I started at just after one this afternoon, and have only just finished - - so glad that I am able to do this sort of thing myself, as 8 hours of labour to a tech would be almost enough to write the laptop off completely. I am pleased to say that it is running as good (if not better) than it did when it was new.

And now the microwave is sitting in the corner of the kitchen, making whistling noises at me and the display is dim - - I have a feeling that me and my soldering iron will be replacing some caps before too long......

How the hell do they know to go all at the same sort of time?

 

@fat controller
did you have to remove your Burkini?

 

Update:

Spoke to the water authority at 4 a.m. Told them that the water has already come through the repair to the road surface (it's only a slow leak ). They are going to have to apply for a new permit from the Council and they say that it usually takes eight working days (not including Bank Holidays).

In the meantime we have three very nicely filled in and tarmacked, former, large holes in the road and the traffic lights and barriers have been removed for the first time in over two weeks.

To be continued...

 

Good morning @fat controller it could always be worse