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Did I mention...?
Jan. 11th, 2006 02:30 pm...About a week ago the kids complained that the hot water wasn't working. Ano, on investigation, we discovered why: our big hotwater system had sprung a leak, and water was pouring out into the underneath the floor space. Luckily our hot water system, the one that looked after our ensuite, was still going, so we were able to carry on, and the kids used ours, though I suspect that DS's attempt to grow a beard is a direct reslt of the hot water outage.
Anyway, we trundled into the local energy supplier's showroom and arranged for a gas hotwater system to be installed. This is an on-demand thing which hangs on the outside wall and heats up water only when a tap is turned on. We can regulate the temperature via a couple of control pads, and it should end up saving money in the long term, though it's going to take a very long term indeed. Anyway, we had to do something.
So yesterday a team of navvies came along and sweltered in the sun for a couple of hours, dodging tree roots as they ran a trench from the gas main outside to a new meter box beside the house. and this morning another bunch of workers turned up and proceeded to crawl and clamber all over the house, up and down, in and out, even into the most intimate places - i.e. my daughter's purple-painted boudoir which is forbidden territory to the rest of us.
The dog was horrified. She went and hid in the hedge at one stage, but she didn't bark at all these big men trompling around the premises. After a while we (meaning me and the two teenagers) sheltered in the lounge, while loud noises, oaths and moans came up through the floorboards. "They have released the Balrog!" cried DD as a loud roaring sound erupted from the underworld, and we had a pretty fine old time chuckling and wondering what else lurked in the world beneath.
An expensive time, I mused later, when the paperwork was laid in front of me to fill in.
And it's going to get even more expensive yet. In a couple of months we'll replace the old electric furnace that hides in the crawl space with a new gas system. Last time I turned it on, it made some nasty rattling noises, and I figured that one way or the other it was going to cost us money to get sorted.
Now, if only they made a gas air-conditioner...
Anyway, we trundled into the local energy supplier's showroom and arranged for a gas hotwater system to be installed. This is an on-demand thing which hangs on the outside wall and heats up water only when a tap is turned on. We can regulate the temperature via a couple of control pads, and it should end up saving money in the long term, though it's going to take a very long term indeed. Anyway, we had to do something.
So yesterday a team of navvies came along and sweltered in the sun for a couple of hours, dodging tree roots as they ran a trench from the gas main outside to a new meter box beside the house. and this morning another bunch of workers turned up and proceeded to crawl and clamber all over the house, up and down, in and out, even into the most intimate places - i.e. my daughter's purple-painted boudoir which is forbidden territory to the rest of us.
The dog was horrified. She went and hid in the hedge at one stage, but she didn't bark at all these big men trompling around the premises. After a while we (meaning me and the two teenagers) sheltered in the lounge, while loud noises, oaths and moans came up through the floorboards. "They have released the Balrog!" cried DD as a loud roaring sound erupted from the underworld, and we had a pretty fine old time chuckling and wondering what else lurked in the world beneath.
An expensive time, I mused later, when the paperwork was laid in front of me to fill in.
And it's going to get even more expensive yet. In a couple of months we'll replace the old electric furnace that hides in the crawl space with a new gas system. Last time I turned it on, it made some nasty rattling noises, and I figured that one way or the other it was going to cost us money to get sorted.
Now, if only they made a gas air-conditioner...
