It's the first day of Half-Term, which means Carol gets a break from work at Milton Keynes Academy and we can spend some quality time together. We have hopefully got a couple of days out planned. As I now get my pension it means we have extra cash for one or two little treats, such as trips to London. There are a couple of exhibitions we'd like to go to, on about Leonardo da Vinci at the Science Museum, a character who intrigues me and another, at the Victoria and Albert museum celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Olivier Awards and the Society of West End Theatre. So we didn't get up as early as we would normally do on a school day. Unfortunately, the gas went out. I assumed it was because the credit had run out on the meter, so it meant I couldn't have my usual morning shave. I have to admit that my day doesn't begin properly until I've had a decent shave and that needs hot water. Tell me I'm old fashioned or some sort of obsessive, but that's the way I am. So I had to boil the kettle in the kitchen and carry it upstairs to the bathroom sink. We needed to get shopping so went to Sainsbury's and on the way back went to the local shop to put £20 on the key which goes in the meter in the outside meter cupboard in order to top up and so have the heating on as well as hot water. In order to reach the meter in the cupboard, you need to stand on something because it is in such a position in the cupboard, at the top and at the back which is impossible to get to unless you stand on something, such as a chair. We have a step we bought from IKEA especially for this job. You have to put the yellow card in the meter and press the button in order to put the credit on, and make sure the switch is off on the wall near the gas boiler in the kitchen. I noticed, when I put in the card, that there was a little over £2 left on the meter, which suggested that it wasn't because of the gas credit running out that was the reason for there being not hot water or heating in the house. It would most likely something to do with the water pressure in the boiler and Carol was able to get it to re-fire with a certain amount of effort and patience. But, after about a dozen-and-a-half attempts it was obvious that the boiler wasn't going to work. By now we were at the point of trying to think how we could possibly solve the problem of the boiler not working. One would be to ring our landlord but from experience, we knew that if we got him involved it would probably take days or weeks before anything is done, and also he would be likely to get some friend of his to repair the boiler and most likely make more of a mess of the thing. As it is, you are only supposed to use a registered C.O.R.G.I. engineer to do any work on anything which runs on gas. I have a feeling that this organization has been superseded by a newer similar government body. So, we decided to attempt to get a reliable company to come and repair the boiler, even if it meant paying for it ourselves. So we found the number of British Gas and set up an appointment for Friday, which was the earliest they could come.
Having found that there were some items we had forgotten when we went to Sainsbury's we decided to go to Waitrose, which is a good deal closer to home. When we got there we were surprised by how crowded and busy it was. Then Carol saw Pauline and her husband, who had been a teacher with her at the Academy and they had a long conversation. They have arranged to meet up during the week.
We have had to have a small electric heater on in the lounge for most of the afternoon and evening as it has been quite cold today. We both of us need to keep warm due to us both having health issues, Carol with diabetes and myself with my heart and by late afternoon we decided that perhaps we would ring our landlord and ask him to deal with the boiler repair. After all, it is his house and he should take the responsibility for the boiler repair.
Having found that there were some items we had forgotten when we went to Sainsbury's we decided to go to Waitrose, which is a good deal closer to home. When we got there we were surprised by how crowded and busy it was. Then Carol saw Pauline and her husband, who had been a teacher with her at the Academy and they had a long conversation. They have arranged to meet up during the week.
We have had to have a small electric heater on in the lounge for most of the afternoon and evening as it has been quite cold today. We both of us need to keep warm due to us both having health issues, Carol with diabetes and myself with my heart and by late afternoon we decided that perhaps we would ring our landlord and ask him to deal with the boiler repair. After all, it is his house and he should take the responsibility for the boiler repair.
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