A Flying Visit

Sunday Morning. We spent quite some time tidying the house, vacuuming the carpets, mopping the kitchen floor, generally making the place a little more than spotless. We knew we were to get a visit from our landlord's wife at around 2 o'clock this afternoon. We watched some of the European Championships 2018 from Glasgow, some of the rowing and then the women's bicycle road race. Interesting to see Glasgow and somewhere we'd like to visit.

Carol was to get another visit from the nurse to give her the antibiotics, but she must have been running late and didn't get to us until around 1.20. We were concerned that she was going to be here when we had the house inspection, but this particular nurse is extremely efficient and managed to do what was needed within around 30 minutes or so. Some of the other nurses who come seem to take much longer. Once she'd gone, we were left to wait for our landlord to visit. 2 o'clock came and went. It is somewhat annoying that you spend all that time and effort cleaning the house and arrange a time and then- they don't turn up. Probably because we're very punctual, like to be on time for things. Then a large car turned up outside the house at around 2.25. We had to put poor Alfie in the garden and shut the patio door because I don't think our landlord's wife likes dogs. Alfie kept looking in through the glass door but settled down to lay on the grass. I think he quite enjoyed being outside in the sunshine.

The car contained  the landlord's wife and their daughter, who we've never met before. She had a leather folder in her hand. They came into the lounge and sat down. They had a new tenancy agreement for us to sign and then proceeded to fill in the relevant details and we signed. They were going to take it away and get it photocopied and then give us the copy. It was this document which we were eager to find, without success, when we turned the house upside down in our attempt to find an earlier version of this document, and then the landlord had put the letter through the door which stated that he was our landlord and how much rent we paid each month which I immediately took to the Council offices so that we could complete our application for Housing Benefit. There was no attempt to inspect the house, although it was very clear that they could see how clean and tidy the house was. Somewhat annoying because we'd spent so much time and effort in cleaning and tidying the house. The only comment we got was about the garden, particularly the front lawn which is, admittedly, in definite need of mowing, but, due to the extremely hot weather I had left this job. The landlord said that they could help to get the garden tidy and the lawn mown, but in all honesty I wouldn't want any of them coming to the house. As it is, they leave us alone as no doubt they realise we are reliable tenants; we pay our rent on time and look after the house. True enough. And that was the end of that. They couldn't have been in the house much more than ten minutes. So, we should get a copy of the rental agreement and we no doubt won't see them again for another year. Most definitely a flying visit. It seemed that they didn't want to over-stay their welcome, and we could have easily done without all the effort we'd been to to clean the house for their benefit.

Gas Boiler Safety Check and Other Matters

Our gas boiler needs it's annual safety check. It actually ran out last February. We have the certificate that we had when it was installed. If you read my blog posts on a regular basis, then you will remember we had a new boiler installed in February 2016. We had to go through the Council to get our landlord's address and telephone number in order to get the thing replaced. We hadn't been notified of a telephone number change as we only had a number which wasn't functioning when we tried to call it. Unfortunately the landlord has no idea what his legal responsibilities are regarding the boiler being tested annually and have a safety certificate. I had considered having this done myself, by getting a registered gas engineer do the work, but I have been told by several people that it's the landlord's responsibility. I rang him well over a week ago to ask to have this work done. He didn't seem to know who I was, which was a bit of a worry, but he eventually realised that I was a tenant of his property.  When I had no response from him as to when this work would be carried out I had to ring him again yesterday evening. His response was that he had attempted to contact the engineer who had installed the boiler but couldn't get through and had left a voicemail message. I said that I would contact the Council regarding this matter and if he couldn't get hold of the engineer I would find someone myself. This seems to have done the trick, because he rang me at around 7.45 last night to say that he had spoken to the gas engineer and he would ring me direct to make an appointment to do the gas check for me. I await that phone call this morning. Mr Landlord seems to be under the impression that, because the boiler is relatively new (well, it will be two years since it was installed in February.) and seems unaware of the fact the thing needs a safety check, which appals me as he is the owner of the property and as such has a responsibility to us to have the thing checked for our safety.

I went out to do some shopping in Sainsbury's. Carol got a call from the gas engineer and he's coming to do the gas safety check on Friday morning. So at last that's sorted. Well, it will be completed once the certificate is handed over.

 Wednesday, 3.15 p.m.

As I write this, the gas engineers who installed the boiler have been and done the safety check and it's passed. They were able to come this afternoon instead of Friday. Our landlord will have received a reminder a month before it was due but must have ignored it. No problems so that is done for another year.

Carol does crochet. Since she's been at home, off work sick, she's made Alfie a lovely blanket done in crochet. She made her mum a scarf and I bought her a magazine which had a free kit with it to make a brown bear (called Brian.) As a result of all this she has no end of wool, hooks and other bits and pieces. She wanted a box or at least something to keep the things in and went on Amazon to find a really good kit. Ordered and paid for using debit card. It should have arrived the next day (as we have Amazon Prime we get post and packing paid for as well as fast-track delivery.) We then got an email to say the package wouldn't arrive until Today (Wednesday.) But this morning we had another email telling us that, unfortunately, it had got lost. How or why has it got lost? It got as far as Peterborough and that's as far as it could go. No doubt some employee of Amazon put it in the wrong place, bin, shelf or whatever. We still don't have any idea what happened to this order and as far as I know, neither does Amazon. A complete mystery. Will it ever be found? Could Sherlock Holmes solve the mystery? We have since had a refund, but you would expect it to appear at some time in the future. Watch this space for further revelations.

Fence Repair and Other Matters

The sound of D.I.Y. had almost disappeared yesterday, thankfully. On returning from church mid-morning we were expecting to hear more hammering and sawing, which wouldn't have been surprising as it was a very mild and sunny day over-all. We had considered going for a swim but we didn't in the end. 

During the afternoon we were settled down for a rest when there was a knock at the door. It's usually whenever we are settled and quiet that we get either a phone call or someone comes to the door and disturbs things. I ran downstairs and found Shelley, Gary's wife (our neighbour on one side.) she said she wanted to speak to us. It appears that Gary is going to replace the fence which divides our gardens. As it's on our left, it is actually our responsibility, and our landlord should legally deal with this. But if we contact him he will make so much fuss and would no doubt get a cowboy builder to to the work, that in the end it's easier for us to get the work done. Gary will do the work and we'll pay for half of the work. At £40 it seems cheap. As it cost around £200 to have the fence at the end of the garden replaced (nearly two years ago I suspect, but it might have been less than that.) definitely a good deal. He will do the work over the next weekend. Having looked at that section of fence, it doesn't look as if it would survive much longer. It's very wobbly and definitely unstable and if you were to touch it it would most likely just crumble into a heap of sawdust or shavings. I don't think the fence around the garden has been replaced since the house was constructed, which I imagine would have been in the late 1970's. So it must be well over 40 years old. I notice that a lot of fences in the Eaglestone area have recently been replaced, so if that's a sign of how old the fences are, it's no surprise that ours needed replacing. Our landlord is somewhat of a skinflint, as you will have realised if you've read my earlier posts. He certainly doesn't like spending money (well, who does, in all honesty?) It's just if he does get someone to do any work they are never properly qualified and don't do a decent job. A case of 'make-do and mend. But if you get a cowboy to do the work you end up with poor-quality workmanship which then needs further work doing and it will cost more to remedy the problem. Just not a cost-effective method of repair.

I have seen the large yellow signs dotted about along the Gridroads and within Eaglesone, telling us that there's going to be yet another marathon running through here next Sunday as well as Monday, which is the  May Bank Holiday. All very well and nice for the runners, but yet again we won't be able to get out with the car when this is on. I know there's people out there who get all hot and bothered if you even dare to suggest that this event is re-routed along the Redway. But I bet if I was to go and park my car immediately outside their homes so they couldn't get out, they wouldn't be over-pleased. The last time I wrote about this matter on here it seemed that I'd made a rude suggestion. It's just that some people don't like it when someone disagrees with them, sadly. Not allowed to have a contrary opinion. Oh dear, I'd better end here before I get a brick thrown through my front window! Oh well, I suppose if we want to go out on either day we'll have to leave well before this event takes place.

Landlord's Visit

We've been madly cleaning the house for about the past week. I don't think the house could be any cleaner. Every nook and cranny was dusted, polished, and dusted and polished again. You could almost eat your dinner off the floor (if you were so inclined.) We even cut the grass yesterday evening. It was just as well we did it then because it's been raining for most of the day. At one point we were resting on the bed and I was almost asleep. It was raining outside (just as well outside. But you get what I mean, or at least I hope so.) There was an almighty clap of thunder. I jumped, almost out of my skin, and Carol screamed. I have never heard such a loud clap of thunder. Both dogs jumped off the bed. Alfie hid underneath and I don't know where Poppy went. She hates thunder and fireworks even more so.  It continued to thunder and the rain became heavier. It was sounding something like a power-shower, as if it had to be turned up to the highest level. It didn't last too long and then the sun came out.

We got a telephone call a bit later from our landlord, just to check that we'd be at home. We were definitely going to be at home. I think it was to make sure we'd remembered that he was visiting at 6 o'clock. We certainly hadn't forgotten.

By 5.45 we were busily watching television. The waiting was getting too much. There was most definitely nothing else in the house to clean. I pushed the vacuum cleaner around the lounge. We had to get the dogs out of the house because the landlord's wife (who would also visit.) doesn't like dogs and it seemed a good idea to have both dogs out of the way. Carol suggested putting them in the garden, but when they were out there, Poppy began to bark- to be let back in. It was no use, she wasn't going to be stopped, so Carol suggested keeping Alfie outside and she'd put Poppy in the car, which is parked in its normal spot at the front of the house in its parking space. I put Alfie outside, back in the garden.  She scooped Poppy up and carried her to the car and at that exact moment the landlord and wife appeared in their car! I put Alfie back in the garden, because he had come in as soon as Carol picked up Poppy. Poor little dog kept peering in through the shut sliding door into the kitchen, almost pleading to be let back in, as if he'd done something wrong, when, of course, he hadn't.

They were given a guided tour of the house. Nothing to be bothered about. Each room visited a few comments. Very pleased. They were here no more than ten minutes, if that. Drove away. We were relieved it was all over. That's over for another year. 'Contact us if there's a problem' as they left the house.

I went out to the car to release Poppy. She wouldn't come out of the car. She just looked at me as if to say 'Aren't we going anywhere? I usually get in the car when we go off for a walk.' I had to half drag her out to get her back into the house. Crazy creature!

House Inspection Pending

We received a telephone call from our belovéd landlord the other evening. He's coming to visit. It's the annual inspection of the house. Instead of agreeing to him coming the next day, we told a little fib and said we were going on holiday (this was last Tuesday.) and that we wouldn't be back for a week. In fact, this gives us ample time to get the house clean and ready for his gracious arrival on Saturday evening. There can't be much to give him concern (apart from the roof of the garden shed, the fact that we've replaced the fridge/freezer and the washing machine. The fridge/freezer was replaced last year, which was recorded in one of these posts, and it was here when he last visited (around a year ago. The floor upstairs near the bathroom and the fact we spent our own cash on having the garden fence replaced and the plumbing done under the sink when we had a leak when the washing machine was being used) so he must have seen the fridge/freezer and not been aware. In fact I doubt very much if he even noticed that the thing wasn't the same one which was here when we moved in around six years ago. Not exactly the brightest button in the box, our landlord. Still, he does at least leave us alone, even though he isn't keen on spending anything on th house which might improve things. Never mind. We have begun our cleaning and this morning we have spent some time weeding the front area of the house outside which has got very over grown. I chopped down a rather nasty tree which keeps growing outside the front door and used the lopper I bought from Wickes for the purpose.

Warmer Weather and Car Repairs

It's another of those strange autumn days when it seems that the weather can't quite make it's mind up. It's a good deal milder, but then it might suddenly change and we get a sharp drop in the temperature and even a slight frost. It was strange yesterday with warm and sunny in the morning but there was a slight hint of rain later.

Mick, the motor mechanic, has been to work on the car for two evenings. I think he's managed to get the part out which needs replacing. He's now on holiday for two weeks so we won't get the rest of the work done on the car completed well into October. Never mind, we've managed to do without the car for quite a while now so I'm sure a couple more weeks without it won't do us much harm.

I'm feeling a good deal better. The cold and cough have more or less gone, but I have been left with a really uncomfortable chest. Not pleasant, particularly when I've had a heart attack and it's a similar sort of feeling. I think it's caused by the incessant coughing. It's much better this morning. Hopefully by Monday it will have cleared completely. Exertion such as walking any distance does tend to set it off but rest relieves it somewhat.

We are still waiting with bated breath regarding the landlord sorting out the fence. No word regarding having the house surveyed. Someone came to do this around two weeks ago. Also, the gas boiler needs a safety check. It's a legal requirement, and it hasn't been done since the landlord took over the running of the house from Smart Move. If it's not done soon we will have to get it done ourselves and certainly before the winter months and the weather gets cold and we need to have the central heating on for any length of time.

House Guests

Carol came home from work and told me that we would be having house guests. Brian is a new member of staff at Milton Keynes Academy and he and his girlfriend, (another teacher, although she doesn't teach at the Academy, but at a school in Beaconsfield apparently.) have been having problems with their landlord (seems infectious, this business of landlords, as you will recall from earlier posts on here.) and as we have a vacant room, it seemed that we could come to their aid on a temporary basis, for around a month or so until they can find more permanent accommodation.  As we were given so much help when we had all the problems with our former landlord it seemed only right that we should do the same for other people in a similar sort of situation. So they arrived at around 6.15 yesterday evening, just as we were having our meal. We had to put the dogs in the kitchen when they came in and Alfie was excited when they met him, Poppy being her usual friendly self. They spent the rest of their evening ferrying their belongings from their former accommodation. We had to move our bicycles from their parking space in the entrance hall to the kitchen to make way for more of their belongings. All went smoothly and they hardly made a sound when they came back when we had gone to bed. Alfie is still not sure about them. I think it's to do with having his routine altered but by this morning he was far more settled. 

I managed to get the rest of the grass cut early this morning. I did most of it yesterday afternoon before I went to meet Carol from work. One of the plastic blades on the mower broke, and I had to replace it before I began mowing, so thankfully that job is out of the way before the Bank Holiday and Half-Term holiday as I don't really want to mow the grass next week.

Boiler Breakdown

It's a cold and frosty morning. The boiler decided to play up first thing. It had a red light flashing on it's front, which usually indicates that the gas has run out. We have a pre-payment meter, meaning we have to 'top-up' using  a card for gas and a key for electricity and buying credit for them at either the local shop in Eaglestone or the shop at Garraways in Coffee Hall. I usually do this at the beginning of each month. I had to go out to the bin cupboard, climb on the step-stool and use a small torch we have to see how much credit is on the meter. The card has to be put in the slot on the meter which you have to stretch your arm inside the cupboard as the meter is put in perhaps the most awkward place. It showed up on the digital read-out that it had well over £40 so it wasn't that which was the problem. We tried the boiler again but it steadfastly refused to start. So, we had the prospect of no hot water for baths and washing-up as well as no heat in the house as the central heating system works from the boiler. If it needed repairing we would need an engineer to look at it, which would mean if we went through our landlord it wasn't likely to be fixed any time soon. As we were promised by the landlord that we would have our fence repaired, and still nothing on that (very nearly six months have passed since we signed the tendency agreement with the landlord and moving away from the rental agency.) So, what to do? Ring round to find an engineer who might be able to fix the boiler ourselves or go through our landlord? Fortunately the thing seems to have sorted it self out and is now working. So, I've been able to do the washing-up from last night and the house is relatively warm again. With my heart condition I cannot afford to get too cold. We presume that the boiler needs to be at the correct water pressure to work and this cold snap as interfered with this water pressure.

Wild, Wet and Windy Weather

The past couple of days the weather has been wet and windy. A section of garden fence is now almost vertical. As I sit and write this post I can see through into the area that borders the Redway behind our house. The other day I couldn't find our Yorkie, Alfie. He had gone through the gap and did manage to get back through into the garden, but he has a habit of wondering off through any gaps in the fence as he's a very inquisitive little dog. He went through into our neighbour's garden as I reported on here a couple of weeks ago, and he did come back through. We have to keep and eye on both dogs whenever they go into the garden, because the the possibility of them getting through the fence. The landlord had promised to replace the fence a couple of months ago, but, as yet, there seems to be no chance of this work being undertaken. There isn't much left of that section of 'fence' (for want of a better word) as it is so rotten it will not stand up to much more being done to it such as having nails driven into it.

Blackberry Picking

This morning I've done my annual blackberry picking expedition, or I suppose I should say ONE of them at least. Walking along the Redway behind our house and collecting a fair amount  in a plastic box and also from the brambles that grow over our back garden fence. Although 'fence' as a description is rather rich, as what purports to be a fence is just a rather wobbly, rickety example which won't last much longer. Of course, expecting our landlord to repair it would be asking too much. We have done our best to shore it up with the odd bit of timber, in an attempt to keep Alfie in. The shed is also in just as poor a state of repair, and Alfie has a habit of going inside it, and then finding himself trapped. Quite amusing when our other dog, Poppy, comes to tell us where he is whenever we can't find him. The door of this shed has been off it's hinges for all the time we've lived here, and really doesn't do much of a job of preventing Alfie from venturing inside and is also propped up with quite an array of bits of timber and flower pots. Alfie has now found an exit from the back of the shed out onto the no-man's land at the back of our garden, and on several occasions I've had to go round to rescue him, which can be  really quite difficult, as the brambles and bushes there are quite thick and make it almost inaccessable. He does know how to get back through the hole at the back of the shed, but I really don't want him to get out on the road.

Landlord Refuses To Replace Worn-Out Oven

The seemingly endless saga of the worn out oven has had some sort of resolution. It would appear that our cheese-pairing, cheapskate landlord won't replace our/his oven which I have reported on here had given up and caused me some little concern when it exploded (I do exaggerated, but if I say 'popped' it sounds a bit pathetic!) Apparently he won't cough up for a new one because he says it was new around 15 months ago, when the last one died the death. The truth of the matter is, this one was CHEAP, a Bush AE56SW and came from Argos, so don't bother wasting your money on a Bush electric oven from Argos.  Perhaps if he'd spent out a good deal more then the confounded thing MIGHT conceivably have lasted a bit longer. It has worn very poorly, it takes an eternity to warm up, the front panel has paint  that is chipping off (or whatever covering the front is covered in) and the plates are rusting really badly. I think for a relatively new oven it hasn't done very well at all. Please don't bother buying this model as it is not worth the money. I know it's the cheapest oven (or was, I don't think it is in the Argos catalogue any longer, and I can see why if this is the quality.) As we won't expect a replacement from our beloved landlord any day soon, we have decided to wait until the end of the month and buy our own. Considering what happened with the washing machine and the mess that was caused when the landlord got someone who had no idea about plumbing to install it and didn't remove the restraining bolts on the back of the machine (see earlier post.) and the ensuing problems with the plumbing near the sink (we have had a constant drip from the point where the washing machine is plumbed into the water pipe and have had a bucket there to collect the water that drips since then.) I'm not in the least bit surprised by our lack of help with the cooker. The simple fact of the matter is he DOESN'T WANT TO SPEND ANY MONEY on this house! Perhaps the landlord has forgotten the address of this house and don't know the way here. It is, of course, absolutely likely as he hasn't set foot in it for a good while now.

We have managed to do quite well without the oven, surprisingly. We have managed to cook some meals using the microwave as well as the George Foreman grill, and have cooked a couple of meals in the slow cooker, even making Bolognaise sauce in this really useful kitchen gadget. It's really surprising how you can manage when 'push comes to shove.' We've also had several salads so we've eaten relatively healthily, but even so it has caused a certain amount of inconvenience.

Cold and Snow

It's a really cold morning. The snow is still hanging around. There's not as much snow and ice on the paths as Carol and I walk to the Academy. Yesterday it was quite slippery, particularly on the footbridge over Saxon Street. You had to be really careful, or you were in danger of falling over, which is something we want to avoid, considering how Carol hurt her hand. There are primroses blooming along the path near the Academy, a sign that spring is attempting to show itself, regardless of the prevailing weather conditions.

We have heard nothing as regards the cooker being fixed. We managed to make our evening meal yesterday without the use of the cooker. Just as well we had a microwave to cook part of the meal. I just hope our beloved landlord doesn't decide to try and fix the cooker himself, if what happened to the new washing machine is anything to go by (see earlier post regarding this.) If I don't hear anything from the agency by midday today I will ring again.

Washing Machine . . . Sorted!

At last! The washing-machine is working! It has taken very nearly a week to get the thing up-and running, but it at last means things can return to some sort of normal, if that is at all possible. Someone came from Anglia Water to check out where exactly the water turned off in the street. It's where you'd expect it to be, directly in front of the house under a little man-hole cover (crazy, as a man would never get down it!) and so we now know where to turn off the water if we need to. As it turns out, we don't need to turn it off to repair the plumbing, as you'll discover as I continue with this post.

I got a call from our landlord around 11 a.m. yesterday to say he was sending someone to 'look at' the washing-machine and the problem caused. He said this person would arrive at around 12 noon. The time came and went and nobody had arrived, so I was thinking, no we're going to have those two clowns back on Monday sometime, messing around attempting to sort the plumbing out, not having the slightest idea what on earth they were doing.

At around 4.30-5.00 p.m. I get a call from a man who says he's a plumber, and something to do with the rental agency, and can he come and have a look at the situation regarding the washing-machine? I say, yes he can, and he say's he'll be there in around half-an-hour. He turns up, carrying a proper tool-kit and far more clued up as regards what to do than the landlord and his 'assistant'. He manages to turn off the water WITHOUT going into the street, and has the job done within 30 minutes and we had the washing-machine in it's correct place under the work-surface and working properly! Job done and thank's for your effort! I reckon the landlord's wife must have said something to him, as regards doing a botched job, and to get someone on the job who had some idea of what they were doing so as not to cause any further damage. As it is, the washing-machine, when it was on spin last Saturday afternoon and more or less 'bounced' all over the place, damaged the flooring. All due to incompetence and, basically because certain people didn't want to spend out on doing the job properly in the first place.

Why Aren't Things So Simple?- Adventures With A Washing Machine

Nothing goes according to plan, and nothing on earth is ever as simple as one might expect, and certainly not in the case of the new washing machine. I explained in the last blog that our landlord arrived yesterday with the new machine. He came with two young lads, presumably with the intention of using them to lift in the new washing machine and then take out the old one. Which they did. Nobody seemed to have the first idea how to actually disconnect the old machine from the water supply. As you may or may not know there is generally always a pipe which you connect to the water supply so that the machine will fill automatically from the house mains and another tube which takes the water OUT of the machine during it's operation. The landlord had absolutely no idea where the stop-cock was in the house so as to turn off the supply. Carol had to go next door and ask a neighbour, as all the houses along this road are identical. It turned out to be behind a panel in the downstairs toilet. Which was a surprise as we didn't know this. I really would have expected our landlord, of all people, to have known this sort of detail.

It was only the start of our problems. Unfortunately.

The young man who set up the washing machine didn't really have the first idea what he was doing. We left them to get on with it. After all, it was the landlord's machine and we were quite happy to watch them work. But the young man had absolutely no concept of which tube went where. Anyway, it was eventually done and they left, taking the old machine outside for the Council to collect (which reminds me that I must contact them on Monday morning so that the refuse collection department can take the  old machine away. It is now defunct so it's better for it to go for recycling.)

So, with the washing machine plumbed in and operating (or so I thought) I put in a load of washing.

Then the problems really began.

The cycle seemed to take a very long time to complete. Surely a wash cycle in an automatic washing machine should take no more than an hour? Or so I would imagine. It was still going around 2 hours later. It then went into the final spin, and I was upstairs when it began, and thought to myself, 'good, at least we'll have some clean clothes at long last.' I came downstairs in the middle of the spin and the machine had moved out at a 45-degree angle from the work surface. Not what you expect to happen. I thought at first that Carol had pulled out the machine, but it seemed unlikely. The machine then went into full spin mode and it was getting faster and faster. It was really getting dangerous.

We had to stop the thing somehow or other and so we pressed the 'off'' button which got the spin cycle to slow down and eventually stop. We then discovered that the tube that brought the water into the machine from the mains supply was leaking badly, so we had to attempt to shut off the water. But no amount of effort would shut it off completely and there was a really bad drip coming from the connection, which meant we had to put the washing-up bowl under the connection to collect the water. We had to empty this several times as it filled up really fast. Also, we attempted to turn off the water supply at the stop-cock, but this would not shut off completely. Of course, all this meant that we couldn't do any washing up, or have the central heating on, flush the toilets, have shaves and so it went on. All this because that incompetent person thought they knew how to fit the washing-machine.

As a further result of all this, the machine has torn the floor-covering when in it's fastest spin-mode.

We learned, having attempted to stop the drips, that when they came to plumb in the machine they didn't remove the restraining bolts in the back of the machine, which are there to prevent the drum from revolving and causing damage during transit and hadn't set up the feet so that the machine was level. It's a wonder we didn't have serious damage to the machine as a result of all this, even a fire or the machine exploding.

Anyway, we have been without running water since Saturday late afternoon, the kitchen is in a mess because we can't use any water and I've been told by the rental agency that they must contact the landlord before they can rectify all these problems. So it's likely to be a couple more days before a competent plumber is called out to do the work required.