Cold

1pm. Today is a very cold day. It is very cold outside, and the reason I know this is because I am currently sitting indoors, where it is also cold.

The reason that I am indoors, yet still cold, is because my gas boiler has packed up, and as of this morning is no longer heating my hot water or supplying me with the palatial all-rooms warmness to which I have become accustomed.

As I speak, there is a man downstairs, banging and crashing and attempting to restore proper order. No, wait, he has come upstairs to use the toilet.. OK, and now he has gone back downstairs again.

So far he has managed to remove pretty much every part of the boiler, and by a process of elimination it has been discovered that some rickety old fan thing is causing the problem. Sadly it is so totally rusted to the wall that he cannot remove it, which probably places us in "whole new boiler" territory. If this is required, it will not occur until some time in the new year, meaning that this Christmas will be a chilly affair indeed.

1.30pm Mr Fixer left momentarily, and has now returned with his boss, the two of whom are currently engaged in a high speed conversation which I am not completely following. At issue, apparently, is whether it is "22 mil" or not, where exactly does the pipe come in, will there be room for the scaffolding? Is there enough cromulence for the thrusterbusters? The existing location of the boiler is not acceptable, so that will need to be moved into the airing cupboard, and of course the hot water tank and all of those radiators will need to be replaced. Work starts tomorrow morning at 8am and will I be alright until then?

I am considering wearing a sweater, but then again I'm sure that will turn out not to be necessary on account of the huge amount of lifting and carrying and moving around that I will need to do in order to clean up the place enough for the nice gentlemen to have easy access to my radiators. Still, I guess it's a good reason to get started.. I may be some time.

2pm Apparently it's just the radiator taps that need to be replaced. I'll still need to tidy up a bit, though. T minus 18 hours and counting.