A full dance card today. Lots of stuff planned and some added later.
Tuesday morning we were getting the central heating boiler serviced, so that meant the cupboard it lives in had to be cleaned out so the gas man could at least see his quarry and with a bit of luck, reach the beast. Once that was finished, the man arrived and the maintenance was completed. Our boiler is about 15 years old and is getting to the end of its useful life so we signed up to an appointment to price a new one. We did well to get the boiler through the winter and had planned to replace it during the summer, so this was a good opportunity to commit to the replacement.
In the afternoon we were getting Smart Meters fitted to replace the gas and electricity meters. That meant the drinks cabinet, which doubles as an electricity cupboard, had to be cleared out. I hadn’t realised we had so many bottles of spirits in that cupboard. I won’t say how many bottle bags we filled, but it was less than six, just less than six! Each bag holds six bottles. Mind you, some of them only had a little drop in them, well, that’s what I’m saying anyway. Scamp wanted milk so I offered to go and get some. I was just putting on my jacket when my hand brushed the light switch and I got the lightest tingle. I blamed it on static, but when I deliberately touched one of the retaining screws, it happened again. Not static then. Checked it with an electrical screwdriver and the little neon light went on. Oh, oh. We need to get someone in to have a look at that. I checked all the other light fittings and all but one passed. It looks as if the upstairs/downstairs cable needs to be replaced. That will definitely need an expert to look at. I taped off the screw heads with insulating tape and tested again and it is safe for the moment, but it needs attending ASAP. Add to the list.
The Smart Meter fitter came and fitted the meters, but couldn’t get them to connect to the server in the office, so they need to be checked in the next two weeks. Add that to the list too.
Scamp had phoned the osteopath in the village to get her shoulder looked at and had an appointment at 6pm, so we had to have an early dinner and then I dropped her off at the surgery then went to get some photos. Got some decent landscape shots with dramatic rain filled clouds behind. as delivered above.
When I went back to pick up Scamp, I listened to Bryan Burnett’s programme Get It On which has a daily theme. Scamp and I try to work out the most apt track when we are travelling in to salsa on an evening. Today’s theme was “Vinyl Records” I chose Richard Thomson’s “Don’t sit on my Jimmy Shand’s” Which mentions 78s and “They don’t mend with sticky tape and glue” I had the time and the opportunity to send in my suggestion, so I did! I’d just finished when Scamp got in the car. She was impressed with what the osteopath had said and done and couldn’t stop talking about it. I was half listening to her and half listening to hear if my suggestion would get a mention. We’d almost reached the Town Centre when I heard “Zog” from Bryan! Yes! I got my mention on the radio. Unfortunately, Scamp just kept talking, and they didn’t play my suggestion. Their loss.
One of JIC’s birthday presents was a lump of 99% pure cocoa with instructions for cooking it into a cocoa drink. This is the one that when wrapped had a label explaining that it wasn’t a suppository! Today I tried it and it was really rich and smooth. Not at all what I was expecting, but I won’t say what, exactly, I was expecting!
So, a day of some successes and some failures and some “Work in Progress”