Friday 2 August 2013

Gas pipes and boating

Yesterday we had engineers round for the majority of the day. They cut off the existing gas supply in old lead pipes and now our supply runs around the outside of the house and through the loft down to the boiler in shiny copper pipes.

I was dreading it .As a self confessed germ phobic the thought of having no hot water totally freaks me out. luckily they didn't need to turn of the electric at all though so I got by with boiling up the kettle for when the children needed to wash their hands after using the toilet and before eating, for cleaning and food preparation and such like.

I never feel comfortable having work men in the house , I can never relax and get on with the day. Paul had the day off work and we basically spent the majority of the day following Eva around , she did manage to escape up the stairs (usually we have  the stair gates shut, but this was impossible with three workmen tooing and throwing from the loft) to try and help the men on one occasion. And she made several bids for escape , fortunately she didn't actually get out on to the pavement before one of us caught her. We usually keep the gate shut and have a rope over it so that she cant get out. The workmen were in and out and seem to care little weather our almost two year old was in the garden or not. With the exception of one of the guys. He could have been no more than about seventeen but he was always aware of Eva and he took lots of time to talk to Charlie.

We went down to the shop early yesterday morning and Charlie spotted a microscope set in the charity shop window. As I tackled some brambles in the front garden he set it all up and used it to "analyse" as he says some different things. The set came with a head louse on a slide so he very much enjoyed looking at that. Then I cut my finger on a thorn and asked if he would like to "analyse" some of my blood. He jumped at the chance and told me my blood was stripy .I explained that that was my finger print he could see!
He looked at a rose petal and a bramble leaf too... he went back to the microscope kit many times throughout the day.

The workmen had done there job and the cooker and boiler were all plumbed back in again by about half past three, but the guy in charge said he wasn't happy to leave us with the boiler in the condition that its in.
We have had nothing but trouble with our boiler. I wont bore you with all the problems but it has leaked so much that a while ago one man pulled out what was left of the water damaged insulation and thrown it away.
I had since phoned up to complain of a rattling noise and was told by a visiting engineer it was because the insulation had been removed but it was nothing to worry about.
Any way. I was told yesterday that the insulation doesn't just make the boiler less noisy it also has two other functions. it stops the casing becoming dangerously hot and in the event of a CO2 leak it would act as a barrier, obviously it would still need fixing ASAP but it would be a little defence.
The man was not happy to leave it especially as it is in the children's bedroom. its in a cupboard that's shut and behind a computer desk , so its not as though the kids could actually touch it , but still that's not the point!

After a few phone calls I was told that an engineer would be with me first thing in the morning. said engineer has been and advises a new boiler , but there is a chance they will just change the case. He tells me Southern housing group are notoriously bad at wanting to spend out any money. Our boiler is ten years old this year and with a house full of children it gets a very good work out. I'm really hoping that we will get a new boiler but I'm not too optimistic.

Once we were left in peace yesterday afternoon I made dinner and Paul took Jasmine , Summer and Charlie down to the harbour .I really felt like having a walk down by the sea myself but I stayed behind and Gypsie amused Eva while I cleaned up the dinner things and mop the floors after the day of workman spreading dust and grime throughout the house.

By the time they returned home full of stories , Eva was bathed and nursed to sleep, snoozing besides me on our bed.
Charlie had chosen not to get on board the little boat much , instead he had spent time fishing off of granddad pats moored up boat . He caught lots of baby mullets.
Jasmine and Summer both had a turn at steering the boat and all in all they had a lovely evening.
Again Jasmine took some lovely photos.






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Photo: Dad on the boat x

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Jasmine tells me one night they are going to stay later and watch the sun set for longer.

Charlie and I spent a long time snuggled up in his bed last night reading from one of his castle books. I would thoroughly recommend this one if you have a little castle lover like I do.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Castles-Usborne-Starting-Point-History/dp/0746052561/ref=sr_1_3/275-4966522-0947740?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375439006&sr=1-3&keywords=usborne+castles

Charlie's actually just asked me to get his bricks down for him and is working on building a castle as I type.

I didn't see much of Jasmine at all yesterday. She spent the whole day out with a friend and my youngest sister. They spent the morning here in Bembridge on the beach and then caught the bus to Sandown where they also spent time on the beach and went on the pier to the amusement arcade.

She had a fantastic day.

My day turned out to be not quite so bad as first anticipated but I still hate having workmen in the house.

                                                               XXX

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