Friday we were booked in for an ordinary, routine boiler service. We’ve lived here for a year and have yet to service the boiler. We expected that it was a while since the boiler had any love but we dint expect our weekend to go so awry.
Of course A and myself spent the whole day waiting in for the guy to arrive who only appeared at 4pm. Service didn’t take that long and he asked me to sign the paperwork. As I signed I asked was everything OK.
“Em yes it’s grand”…. em yeah???
Not getting any more information from him I let him hop back into the car and I switched the heat on. Mmmm toasty heat. Toastier than we’ve ever felt. Gosh isn’t it great what a simple service can do…. cue banging. I mean intense, apocalyptic, pipe crushing, walls are going to break banging. And then the waterfall.
Water started pouring down from the attic, of course targeting itself down through the ceiling light. Terrified of exploding pipes I three the heat off. Left a bewildered A marvelling at the water as I ran to the attic to find the cause of water.
Realising that I’m useless and had no idea what I was looking for I came back down and threw a bowl under the leak. Grabbed the phone and called the plumber. No answer arrrrgggghh called my dad no newer arrrrgggghh again remember that I’m useless. B was on his way home from work so couldn’t call him. Tried the plumber again, left a message. What to do, what to do? Grab a towel, mop up some water.
Phone rings. I have never been so happy to hear my phone. Thankfully, the plumber came back in five minutes and started messing around with pipes and pumps and all sorts. B arrived home to a frazzled Momma Bear and an excited A. He walked straight into the mess without knowing what he was in for after a crappy week in work. So, all apparently fixed guy hops off at 5:30pm and we pop the heat on. Five minutes in and the radiators are scalding and the pipes start banging. Arrrrgggghh. Guy arrives back in what seemed liked 30 seconds!
New pump was needed and a pipe had to be unkinked. Oh dear. We were expecting to be left a week until the work was done but they came back Saturday to do the necessary. Whoop we thought all done and dusted. Nope not quite. The boiler is now overheating, resulting in scalding hot radiators, pipes and water without the boiler switching off. The boiler is on the verge of blowing up!
So, again we are without heat and too terrified to touch any of it. Fingers crossed we’ll get the guy out again for the last time to fix it once and for all.
Ironically if we didn’t bother getting a service we’d have been toasty all weekend.
Back to the Sunshine Blogger Award and a reminder of how Blogger Tags work. Basically, it’s like playing chasing in the school yard and if you’re caught then your it (not the clown, we all know how I feel about clowns and the wonderful Steven King!) This is my third tag, which makes me really feel apart of the blog gang! The first wasn’t really mine though, it more belonged to B who undertook the Daddy Tag Challenge and then more recently I was nominated for Sisterhood of the World Bloggers. The Sunshine Blogger Award is fairly similiar. Answer the questions asked of you and pass the lantern tag on to some of your favourite bloggers giving them a new set of questions. Here we go, a new insight into why I blog, how I parent and how addicted I am to Netflix.
Such an endless question! I think you all know by now that I am a self confessed TV addict. I would pretty much watch anything from start to finish. I love movies but since A came along we haven’t watched as many and I’ve become all consumed with binge watching TV shows, pretty much any tv show! Anything supernatural or weird and wonderful or embedded in sci fi has me hooked.
My all time favourite movie is the 1926 silent movie Metropolis followed by a mountain of dystopian and sci fi movies like Moon, Watchmen, Interview with a Vampire.
One of my favourite weekend pre-A was when B and I watched every single Star Trek film there was at the time. We made home made pizza and spent two days binge watching the best sci fi from Kirk to Picard. I highly recommend a weekend like this!
What three words would your partner use to describe you ?
Besides blogging, what else do you like to do in your spare time?
TV! and lots of it. Have I mentioned my addiction to pretty much every tv show out there…. oh yes I believer I have. It’s probably making me sound bad now! We got Netflix pretty much as soon as it came out and I have to say it revolutionised my TV viewing. I think I’ve watched every half decent (and even the woeful) TV shows out there. I’m currently rushing through Gilmore Girls so that I’m almost caught up by the time the new series comes out. And I’m eagerly awaiting the new series of the Walking Dead. So, yeah TV is definitely a hobby. In truth, I tend to blog while watching TV too, which is probably why it takes me three hours to get a post written!
I also make jewellery when I feel the urge and my repetitive strain injury isn’t acting up. I don’t make as much so I used to but still have my Etsy store up and running. My Halloween jewellery has ran out the door this year!
Before A was born, myself and B went to Berlin every year, sometimes twice. We love the city and we always felt at home in Berlin. We knew the city so well and loved to explore and hunt out quirky markets. Museum Island is one of the most amazing places with a thousand moments of history and culture surrounding you. We haven’t been back since I was pregnant and we do miss it. Maybe some day we can go back and explore again with little miss.
Which of your blog posts is your favourite and why?
Oh no this is a hard question. I have quite a few that I’m proud of. That sounds a little egotistical but I write honestly and I’ve noticed how well my readers respond to that. It gives me sense of kudos I suppose knowing that others relate so much to me.
I love my posts on Returning to Work after Maternity and Tips for Recovering after a Section.
My Mum and Dad bought us our Quinny Buggy and I loved it until I managed to break the hydraulics on it. I know, how is that even possible?! The endless clothes of course was fantastic too. Everyone was so generous and I’ll never forget that generosity.
Oh dear confession here, I haven’t read a decent book in quite a long time. I was addicted to the Sookie Stackhouse books a few years ago and aside from the Jack Reacher novels, I think they were the last books I read. One of my favourite books is the Time Travellers Wife which is much better than the film.
I don’t necessarily have a specific genre that I like and would pretty much read anything… if I had the time.
What’s the best thing you have watched on TV in the past twelve months?
Stranger Things. Oh my dear lord, that series had me on the edge of my seat. It freaked me out enough to desperately want to keep watching and the story was immaculately written, directed and acted. Wow was it acted brilliantly. Winona Ryder surprised me and the kids were all amazing in it. I can’t wait for season 2.
A literary agent who falls in love with my writing and signs me up and sells my novel to the top bidder within a week… whether that person exists is yet to be seen!
Yes, the list is long. We moved into our house last year and there’s always bits and pieces to be done. We managed to get some serious issues fixed and decorated to a level that I’m quite happy with but there’s always more to do. At the moment I’d love to have the two bathrooms redone from top to bottom. The expense is too huge and I can’t imagine getting them done any time soon. So we’ll live with blue tiles and dated bathroom furniture until the retirement fund kicks in and we can afford to flash the cash.
I’d love to wallpaper more and make the house more cosy but all in good time. Oh and have a working boiler.
What beauty product couldn’t you survive without?
Mascara… no foundation… wait can I only pick one. I barely wear any make up as it is these days but always need to have my lashes dark and even my complexion out a bit. If I’m getting all dolled up for a night a bit of eyeliner is all I need… or am bothered to do! Makeup and fashion is not my strong suit.
So who to nominate, who to nominate?… Ah I know, my Dad Blogger Buds because you guys are awesome and always bring a bit of sunshine my way. Follow these guys if you’re not already!
If you could live your life as the characters from a book for one full month, what book would you be living?
What did you have as a child that kids today don’t have? And do you still have it?
How have you changed since becoming a Dad?
What music is on repeat on your music box of choice i.e. iPod. I feel old saying iPod. Do people still use iPods?
What is your favourite meal for a special occassion? And who cooks it – you, the missus or someone else?
How did you meet your significant other and did you know they were the one?
What song makes you happy when you hear it?
How did you feel when you first held your newborn baby?
Poo to the boiler nightmares, Geraldine! At least no one was hurt and it didn’t explode or something.
It’s always lovely to get to know people more! I haven’t read a book for a while – no time! I totally agree with Time Traveller’s Wife. The book is way better and I read it thinking ‘Audrey Niffeneger (authors) brain’ must be MASSIVE to conceive of such a thing.
Jane Taylor recently posted…Hygge: find ‘cosiness of the soul’ with Soak&Sleep (& giveaway).
No more boiler troubles thank god! That was an interesting weekend!
Oh Geraldine, what a weekend you have had!Totally frustrating! And the temperature has really dropped in the past week too. So unfair, especially when you were just trying to be proactive about the whole business. Hope you get sorted soon.
Am off now to check out your Etsy shop (is there no end to your talents?) and these menblogfolk! Loved getting to know more about you.
Oh wow that’s some pretty extreme central heating issues!! My dad’s an ex plumber so we’re normally safe with our one!!
Thanks for the tag!! I’ll get on that this week!!
Oh I could have used your dad that week!