In the Doghouse

You might have noticed that there was a strange comment on my last post, it deserves an explanation so here goes.

I went to Gravesend on Friday morning for my retirement party courtesy of the PLA. Before I went I checked the drain wasn't blocked and fixed a small leak on the cold water tank in the loft. Realising that the problem was caused by the float valve I decided to buy a new one in Gravesend and fit it when I got home.

Imagine my surprise when I got a call in the afternoon to say that there was no cold water in the upstairs taps or the toilet cistern. Of course Yvonne was a bit annoyed (to put it mildly) and so was I, clearly we were back to the "everything break down as soon as you leave the house" routine that used to plague us back in the past. Hence the comment, which the spell check sanitised slightly.

Being at home everyday for the best part of a year had lulled me into a false sense of security and I guess I was a bit remiss.

But worse was to come, on Friday morning the phone line in the house packed up mid call, things were clearly getting serious and my return was required.

When I eventually made it home, I raced upstairs and looked a the water tank. The float had jammed shut and the tank was empty. I fitted the new valve and waited for it to fill. When it did, no water was forthcoming from any tap and only a trickle into the cistern.

So its the emergency plumbers tonight, and there was a large dose of hot tongue and cold shoulder for me, plus the job of carrying buckets of water upstairs. Maybe I deserve it.

In the end, the plumber was here for about a minute, and that included the time it took him to get up and down the stairs. The pipes were airlocked and he showed me a trick to get them sorted. If I had have blinked I would have missed it. 

To catch you up after that fun packed episode, my party in Gravesend was very well attended and I was flattered by some of the comments of my (ex) colleagues. Just before I went to the pub, I was loading the gear from my locker into the car when I saw an old friend, the Transpulp, coming in for Tilbury.

There's a job I won't miss, especially backing into Tilbury Lock at 4 am.

When I got home I found that my potatoes had broken the surface in their bags, just 8-10 weeks and we will be eating new potatoes with mint from the garden.

Not only that, the bread that I made on Thursday, which was for a party, had gone down really well, I found these photo's from the event on Facebook and thought how good Sophie had made the spread look.

Now I have a busy week, I'm seeing the consultant about my shoulder tomorrow, then baking for Oats Tuesday and into Wednesday. Yvonne is seeing the Doctor on Wednesday and then I start preparing for Lovelife on Saturday. 

Sunday is Totnes Good Food again so I expect I will need a rest by Sunday evening. But I will have a selection of excellent produce to keep me going next week.