Drip, Drip.

Last night I discovered an unexpected advantage to being unable to sleep. Only because I was roaming about the house after midnight did I feel the drip, drip of water on my head as I visited the downstairs toilet. Earlier I had noticed some water in there but thought it was the rain blowing in through the open window. I looked upwards and Yikes! the ceiling was bubbling and bowing. Quickly I put some buckets in place then ran upstairs to the family bathroom, directly overhead. I soon found the cause of the problem. The ball valve in the toilet cistern had jammed, open this time, which wouldn't have been a problem if a joint in the overflow pipe hadn't also come apart so that the water was draining onto the floor. It was easy enough to lift the lino and the soaked hardboard. The problem was that the water had run into the gap between the floorboards and the plasterboard ceiling below. I got my Vax, set it to 'wet' and sucked up all the surface water. Then I went downstairs and cut the bubbles to release the water hoping that the ceiling wouldn't fall down. (We are insured but you have to pay the first £50.) During all this himself was fast asleep at the other end of the house but he will have to do the plumbing work asap to sort out the ball valve and the overflow. This morning the ceiling was still bowed and dripping and I realised that I needed to push a skewer right through the plasterboard to let the water out. (The yellow and blue marks on the ceiling are a reflection of the border over the window.) Over the day about 4 litres of water collected in the bucket below. There shouldn't be a problem with the floor of the bathroom above drying out as there is a radiator in there that vents excess heat from the hot water system, powered by the Rayburn, and that keeps the bathroom very warm. It makes a nice change from all those British houses we were brought up in with no central heating and icy bathrooms.
One of the nicer old town houses in Barnstaple.
Before work I went up to the hospital for another physio session on my neck and back. A deep massage which made the muscles burn. He also gave me a few hints to improve my posture but in a positive way unlike that little twerp I had before who told me I had phantom pains. (No, I haven't had anything amputated.) I then had an hour to spend in town before going to work. I needed some more cheap paintbrushes so that I can continue with the gloss painting. White spirit is so expensive that I find it more economical to use cheap paintbrushes (4 for £1), wrap them in cling film while doing the job and then throw them away.

Another well proportioned house.

I had such fun at school in the afternoon. The class teacher had asked me to do some music and liked my suggestion of doing some drumming. We have a number of djembe drums and I took 6 into class for the children to use. I didn't think my ears could cope with more than that for an initial session. We did various activities and then I taught the children to play 'We will rock you' by Queen but with more suitable words that I had written in the early hours. Everybody had a chance to play the drums and it was a great success. Next time we might get all the drums out. On a sadder note there was a chap in town, in his 30s?, sitting begging on the High Street randomly banging on a set of bongos. It is not unusual to see 1 or 2 people begging in town and they all look as if they have addiction problems of one sort or another. I don't think it is helpful to give them money directly but instead I give money to the Salvation Army collectors because you know that it will be used to provide food and other necessities for the homeless people.

And on almost a different subject, I came across these Styrofoam houses/pods being used in Japan. They take 1 day to construct and I am guessing that they have been used to house survivors of the tsunami. Aren't they great?