Tuesday, November 02, 2010

REPAIR - A problem halved..

I wanna tell you a story...

A few years back, we had a shower unit installed in the master bedroom.

Recently, we had rain in the lounge below.

As luck would have it, we had taken out one of those British Gas insurances on all sorts, including, we thought, plumbing.

As it turns out, luck was against us... the wrong kind of plumbing.

A man came, saw, and went away. We'd run the shower, he looked, nothing happened, and away he went.

Thing is, it started raining again.

This time, I went into full Sherlock mode and, armed with a camera, 'observed' the missus at her toilette. Racy. But, more critically, the blooming waste pipe was dripping a storm! That... was covered. How had they missed it before?

So I got them back.

Blow me down... nothing again.

Then I had a brainwave.

I recalled a story about a lady who said her telephone didn't work when it rained. Several engineer visits later, no sign of any problem.

Then, as luck would have it, one call-out day, the engineer meets her in the driveway on a rainy day. Shaking out her brolly, as they enter the hall she hangs it up to dry... on the telecom wire, just enough to pull the connection apart.

So I thought laterally, and donned a pair of Speedos and climbed in to shower while the engineer surveyed beneath. Sure enough... a leak.

What was happening was the weight of the person on the shower tray was dropping it enough to create a gap the older sealant couldn't accommodate.

Sorted, but sad part is... that aspect is not covered by the insurance.

Plus seeing off a young man in my bathrobe has done my reputation locally no good at all.