Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Leaks, Gremlins And Musical Hopes
by Russell Turner - 20:06 on 07 August 2017
The aftermath of The Great Heating Makeover rumbles on…
Mr Plumber’s stand-in arrived bright and early today to examine the pipework associated with the now-absent bathroom radiator and, we hoped, prevent a third leak, a second having taken place on Saturday night while I was absent on City Limits duties. Matchgirl coped admirably.
He left after capping the pipes where the radiator had been, confident that the problem was solved, just in time to hand over to Mr Electrician, on site at The Rural Retreat to replace the new boiler’s temporary power with something permanent, and to install two controllers.
Much activity took place all morning. It resumed after lunch, not long before Matchgirl returned, following a morning away, to the the news of a third leak – this time a brief cascade through one of the light fittings above the kitchen. Amazingly, no fuses or bulbs blew.
Another plumber was summoned, who after delving beneath the computer room floor boards revealed that an old pipe joint (“We wouldn’t do it like that nowadays”) had failed. It was repaired. Where the next failure takes place remains to be seen.
Mr Electrician worked on. We now have half a boiler controller on the kitchen wall and a wireless thermostat (Matchgirl was very excited) on the living room wall. He will return tomorrow to complete his tasks. With luck, another stand-in plumber won’t be needed.
Some cats help electricians. Ours stayed out of the way.
The dramas in the computer room have had a bad effect on my trusty Mac G4, on which I was all set to begin the next Chatterbox today. Overnight, gremlins have attacked – two seconds after switching on it switches itself off. Not good.
It might be the power supply unit – expensive and difficult to find for such an old machine – or maybe the £3 PRAM battery, asking for which draws blank looks from Inverness and Dingwall computer stores because modern computers don’t use them.
Amazon came to the rescue but won’t deliver the battery for a couple of days, so in the meantime I have to choose between using an emergency back-up G4 with no wi-fi (it’s a mystery) or saying goodbye to Quark and switching to InDesign and the MacBook with an external screen.
The time may be approaching for purchase of a more-modern Mac, but not at Apple’s outrageous brand new prices. We’ll see.
City Limits Update: We’re now officially big in Banff. Our gig at Duff House Golf Club (the climax of a competition weekend) saw enthusiastic dancers, several business cards requested, and the bar run out of lager. We were helped by the last-minute hen party, many dressed as rockers and wielding inflatable guitars, who added to the atmosphere. Great fun.
Rick Wakeman Update: Durham gig ticket: bought. Train tickets: bought. B&B: booked. There’s more: his latest blog promises “some very interesting news about events in December and next January”, which I hope will be more Yes/ARW gigs, and a performance of King Arthur in Tintagel in September 2018. And Matchgirl says she’ll go!
Add your comment
© Russell Turner 2008-2024