I haven't posted much this year. It has been a difficult winter all told. Still spring is on the way and the days are getting longer. It will soon be summer and all will be well for a bit.

As if my emotional status were not precarious enough I have just been beset with yet another tale of domestic woe. My electric immersion heater gave up the ghost a week or so ago. Last Wednesday was my first day off to deal with it. I wondered how difficult it was and should I call a plumber? Well dear reader (Hi Mum by the way), flushed with the success of solving my Mothers guttering trouble I decided to "have a go you mug". Well most of the plumbers were asking £60 per HALF hour! That of course was my first mistake.

I turned the mains off and safely disconnected the power cable from the errant device. Now my internet advice had been to start by just replacing the thermocouple so I identified said article and proceeded to remove it. My immersion heater is a 27 inch model. Unfortunately the roof space above my hot water cylinder was only 18 inches. So my half removed thermocouple was stuck. What idiot thought of that? I scratched my head about it for a couple of seconds and felt that brute force was my only option.

It was the cracking, tearing noise that first alerted me to my error. The metal housing the thermocouple sits in had completetly torn away from the base of the immersion unit. As if this was not bad enough, as I had been unable to drain the cylinder before I started, the tank started to ooze water. Not a lot but enough to warrant a minor panic.

Yes! Yes! I had turned the water off first AND I had emptied the header tank too and left all the taps open so there was no water pressure to the header (my stopcock is not 100% either!) But it is a big tank. There was nothing for it but to replace the whole immersion unit. I raced to a large chain of DIY and after a little searching and having the member of staff look at me as though I was stupid because I didn't recognise the equipment. I even bought a tool with which to unscrew the device.

And so I returned home. The old unit seemed so attached to it's cosy nook in all that lovely hot water that it was going to stay put. Whacking the key with a 2 pound hammer just served to bend the key and wear off the surface of the device so that the key just slipped around and around. I was buggered!

In desperation, as without my cylinder being in service I could not use my back boiler central heating. No heating and no water, Oh deep joy.

I slept not a jot that night and returned to work a broken man. All queries as to how my day off went were met with a steely glare and a raised lip. I was forced to run the gauntlett of the £120 an hour men.

He came bright and early this morning. First he tried a few keys and broke them all then he instructed me to disarm my fire alarms and produced a large blow lamp. I thought that setting fire to the house was a rather extreme measure but he explaind he was just going to try and loosen the errant fixture with a littel heat. He wasn't going to set fire to the house deliberatley! After a lot of smoke and a bit more pushing and pulling he too gave up in defeat. He left with out a charge but with the instruction to replace the cylinder. Doh! He managed to isolate the cylinder from all its water sources so at least I have running water now. I have a couple of oil radiators so I shall survive for heat and water but, well it is just another set back to my mental well being and bank balance I could well do without.

Such is the rich tapestry of life I suppose.