No, it's not the neighbourhood, with the group of local itinerant teenagers sometimes breaking in to the block to smoke cannabis and intimidate the residents.
It's not even the slightly infrequent overground train service which only runs every half hour on a Sunday which is getting me down.
No, no, it's more of a fundamental requirement which is bugging me - Water.
I should be grateful really, that I live in a country which provides 24 hour access to the most important element in drinkable form. And I am. I am eternally thankful for this sustaining source of life being piped in to the house. No, truly. It's a blessing. Thank You God that I shall never go thirsty.
But hey, God, now that you are on the line, could I ask just a teensy favour? Could you warm it up a bit and bring it through the taps a tiny bit faster, so that I can have a hot bath at some point today, preferably before I have to leave the house at 5?
The flat I live in is on the 4th floor. The day after I moved in, the water pressure coming through the bath taps and the shower dropped significantly enough to trick the boiler in to thinking that nothing was coming through.
Now, call me spoiled if you wish, but I do love a hot shower. Standing under a dribble of tepid water is not enough to set me up for the day. My landlady is practical and philosophical - a tepid shower is not so bad - it's tolerable.
No, no, no. It's not tolerable - it's insufferable! I don't wake up in the morning until my skin is a bright shade of pink all over!
Being of swift mind, I soon discovered a neat little trick: if I turn on the hot tap at the sink and turn it down to a trickle once the hot water starts coming through, the boiler stays on and the dribble of water trying to pass itself off as a shower comes through passably warm. Sometimes it even steams up the mirrors.
Today, being delightfully filled with snot and feeling groggy, I decided that it would be a real tonic to have a good soak instead. After 'running' the bath for half an hour and writing most of this blog post in the meantime, I returned to the bathroom to find 2 inches of water which still didn't really fit my description of 'hot'.
Oh well. As a good friend once said: "Persistence narrows the odds"
As would a good plumber.
Aggh . Don't talk to me about boilers. At least you got 2 inch of hot water. (I am writing this as I await the British Gas engineer to come for the fifty-something time.
ReplyDeleteAlan: you see, I knew I was blessed... Good luck with getting the boiler fixed...
ReplyDeleteWhen I arrived home from work Friday last, water was all over our pavement. A pipe had burst, so no water pressure to speak of...
ReplyDeleteThen, late into the night, plumbers were here, drilling up the concrete and replacing the pipe. The hole is still there. I was up for twenty hours due to the noise...
The pressure has normalised, but what a pain...
Your question has been temporarily answered, but I might have done better with less fatigue...
I hope the cold is abating?
xxx
e: So after hearing from you and Alan, I feel far more grateful than before! The cold is abating. Sorry that you were kept up by all of the noise - at least I don't have that to contend with...
ReplyDelete