I don't think normal people live like this

I think I must win some sort of prize for procrastination.

When they changed the gas meter, it took me many weeks to get the gas back on, remember? Then I could increase my cooking range beyond what can be accommodated in a toaster oven, a coffee maker, a waffle iron (though, seriously, those take care of pretty much all my cooking most days of the week), and a barbeque grill in the yard.

After that, it took some weeks more to get the water heater back on line, so I could shower at the house & not just at the gym. (it must be admitted that my attendance at the gym has plummeted since home-showering came back into vogue – perhaps I had better turn it off again).

My water heater also heats the house, and its capacity to send hot water around to the various radiators has been sadly diminished since the little circulator thingy broke down. Like, diminished to zero. As you can imagine, my stamina is being tested. At what point will the sub-freezing temperatures break down my resistance to phoning the repair people?

Actually, I cheated on that one. A friend of mine (dear, sweet friend!) made the call, made the appointment, all I had to do was take that morning off.

The call was Friday, but do I have heat yet?

Noooo.

The guy came to check out the situation just yesterday, and since I’m renting and this sort of repair is the business of the owner of the house, he has to send a quote to the agency, and then get back to me. So there’s the paperwork delay. Then we were in the kitchen and he was washing some of the parts of the thing (I also needed a maintenance contract, so he did the maintenance that could be done), there was a new event.

Did I mention those sub-freezing temperatures?

Did I mention how poorly insulated this old house is? Especially the kitchen. There is, in fact, no point in putting the heat on in the kitchen, because by the time the radiator gets warm, my meal is cooked, eaten, and cleaned up already. Last winter, or maybe it was two years ago, I was away for a week, and that week it was really really cold but it wasn’t so cold before I left so I didn’t leave any heat on in my absence. There’s no thermostat: the heat is either ON, of OFF. I got home, and the fridge didn’t work any more. It isn’t made to heat, and it was colder in the room than what it was trying to keep my milk at.

Yeah.

*crack*

The radiator in the kitchen sprung a leak. If one was going to go, let it be that one, the only one with no rugs or wood parquet in reach of the mess.

Sigh.

That’s another one for the agency. Plumbing is their domain. And the radiator must be replaced before the other guy can get the heat going again, so there’s some more delay on the horizon.

In view of all this, I went down to the agency this morning to get things moving, and they said they would have the plumbing people call me to arrange when to come over. No call so far. At least the temperatures are not supposed to get down below freezing again before the weekend, where they might just dip a bit below at night. The other radiators should be ok. And I’ve got a little electric heater that is quite comfy if you sit right in front of it. But for once I’m not the one holding things up!