The Industrious Ant

It's been quite a busy day. My grand clear-up continues, and although progress is slow, I'd like to think that I'm getting somewhere. Of course that "getting somewhere" currently means that there are so many cardboard boxes and other items of junk spread all over my bed, that I am having to sleep downstairs on the sofa. But this is no more than I deserve, and I'm sure that the more tired I get of this (literally), the more it will speed up the clear-up.

Today is a good day for clearing up, because it's 10p listings day on eBay. I was never someone to pass up a discount, and yesterday night I totally went for it, taking photos and typing out auction descriptions until well into the early hours of the morning. This evening I've been doing much the same thing. In total, today I have placed 55 new items onto eBay. Now some of them are probably unspeakable junk (fairly sure those Betamax tapes won't go) but, as they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure, and I've been surprised before by obscure things reaching high prices.

But it's not about the money. I just want the space. Putting all the items on eBay first is just to get over the fact that I can't throw things away. Selling them is different. :-)

So, what else happened today? Well, I woke up, and it was cold! Yes, my fabulous new central heating gas boiler thingummydo had decided that something was wrong, and therefore it did not start at 6.30am, as I like it to. Investigation revealed that it was flashing the helpful information 'E02' on the front panel. Skilled as I am with electronics, I still had to check the manual to find out exactly what this meant. "Occurs after 40 seconds to protect the pump", it says. Which tells me nothing. Men with spanners are called, and in the meantime, I get back into bed to keep warm.

Later on, one man with no spanners at all arrives, and is not phased at all by E02. Flick, flick, press, all working now, Sir. I asked what this meant - apparently the water pressure was low, and when that happens, I must turn this knob, and then this knob, which will cause the laser meter display to increase. Before the point of inevitable detonation, I must then turn the knobs back to their original settings, in the reverse order. This restores the necessary 'pressure' to allow heating. So all is well.

What else happened today? Oh yes, interest rates went up to 5.25%. This is excellent news to thrifty people who save their pennies. I spoke to a friend on the phone who has a mortgage, he did not consider it to be good news at all. In fact it would cost him more money on his mortgage, which doesn't sound like a lot of fun. But I earn more interest on my savings, and that does sound like fun.

So, all in all, it has been an industrious day. And it's not over yet!