Sue's Blog - Some assembly required.

"And he was laughing......."

Muchly wrapping has continued.
I had a bit of a panic when I realised that they actually arrive next week and I have so much left to do.
Apart from all the wrapping (which is almost completed now) I still have to marzipan and ice cakes, make mince pies, make chocolate reindeer cakes, feed the hog.....etc..etc.

Yesterday our house looked like a scene from a slapstick film.
In the morning, after doing the washing, I noticed that the two huge sinks in the basement which the washing machine hose empties into ( come on keep up....are you following me?), these sinks (enormous great things) were filled with water......and it wasn't going anywhere.
I rang my hubby and asked if he would bring home a bottle of   Liquid Plumber.  This is amazing stuff.  You chuck it down the sink and in an hour or so the sink is unblocked.
Such is the theory.
He dutifully brought home the stuff and emptied it into the two sinks in the basement.
After dinner he decided to go and check on them.
Fortunately, I decided to stay upstairs.
After some ominous thumping and crashing, a very red-faced husband came up the stairs carrying a heavy bucket of water.
"Well the good news is I have cleared the blockage."..........don't you just love it when you know there is going to be some bad news.
"The bad news is I broke through the u-bend under the sink when I poked a stick down it and the water is pouring out over the floor."
Poked a stick..........sigh.
My husband is lovely.  What he isn't is practical.
I went downstairs with him as he tried to remove the u-bend......couldn't do it.
I suggested asking Marty up the road for help.   This wasn't received with cordiality initially, but when it dawned that the upstairs sink also ran into this pipe and that if it wasn't fixed we would not be able to use the upstairs sinks either............... Marty was summoned.
Actually, I phoned Marty who hadn't got a clue what the mad English neighbour was talking about when I mentioned u-bends.   It turns out that here in the colonies they go by the name of J-Traps.
No...I don't know why either.
Marty, bless him, quickly arrived and promptly removed the offending J-Trap ( with Philip protesting that he must have loosened  it for him already ) and they set off together to get a new one.
Of course when they arrived back with the new part ......it was wrong.   The connector was wrong.  Two of them went and still got the wrong bit.
Off they went again.
This time it was the right part with the right connector..........but it was plastic...........and it broke !!!
For the third time they set off in search of the J-Trap of Excellence and this time they returned in triumph.
Marty installed the much heralded contraption.........may blessings be showered on him, his family and his cat.
He refused any monetary compensation.  His view being that, where he could help out in such an emergency, Philip would be his man to call if he has computer problems.
It makes sense to get on with your neighbours.

posted by Sue Banks @ 6:22 PM