Welcome to family, friends and visitors. Here you will find interesting (hopefully) pictures of my part of the world, news of our household and probably, long ramblings about anything that catches my interest.

Thursday 9 April 2015

Plumbing's Not Easy.

The lovely weather continues but there are hints of changes this weekend. This morning I was a junior plumbing assistant  being instructed by ex-plumber Peter. At first it went well, between us we have 1 1/2 working hands and the same for our knees so I was able to unscrew the leaking joint and hey presto there was the problem, a worn out ring that creates the seal. We still have some plumbing stuff but naturally no ring of the right size. Off Peter went to town to get a new ring and on his return I attempted to fit it. I say attempted because in spite of exhortations to make sure I didn't cross thread ?? the nut it wouldn't go on straight and each time I turned the water back on (did I mention how awkward that was?) it began to drip. Peter then decided that he would have to do it and only then did he realise that the plastic hep-2-O pipes hadn't been fitted correctly and the 2 bits I was trying to join didn't meet squarely. At this point I began suggesting that we bite the bullet and call in a proper plumber. But plumbers are expensive and hard to get hold of so Peter is planning on the pair of us replacing that pipework. I'm not so sure this is a good idea. 
Being determined to get things done this holiday I got on with painting 2 of the upstairs windows. As I'm not too keen on working from a high ladder I approached the problem from a different angle, literally - working from inside. By hanging out of the windows, going under and over the open sections and generally being a contortionist I was able to first wash and brush down all the brickwork and then paint it. After 2 windows I needed coffee, co-codamol, cake and a rest in the sun with my book. I finished off the job by washing the windows. Only 6 more windows to do, if the paint lasts.


2 comments:

happyone said...

We've done our fair share of plumbing too. : )

Harriet said...

Oh, Ruta, your blog brought back many memories to me as the assistant "whatever" for many projects. Lots of blue words, many trips for supplies and so many "you aren't holding "whatever" tight enough, level enough....I had to laugh. Good luck with the plumbing and the painting.