Plucky

[poliphilo]

The plumber is coming to rip the bathroom apart.

He is replacing the sink and the toilet and the radiator.

At times like this I remember I am British.

My ancestors coped with the Armada, with Boney and the Luftwaffe. I can cope with this.

Comments

[currawong.livejournal.com]

....but they didn't cope so well with Washington, Nasser or Amin, so you never can tell. Good luck with the bathroom.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah yes- all the episodes in imperial history we'd rather not think about.

Talking about Imperial history, what was the reaction down your way to the recent visit of HRH Prince Charles- or did you even notice?

[currawong.livejournal.com]

Derision...scorn...contempt....inertia, ( except for a couple of our more ludicrous royal sycophants.

He ws totally overshadowed by Mary Donaldson, HRH the Crown Princess of Denmark. The sentiment seems to be, "Let's ditch the Bitch and make it with Mary!"

Personally, I think royalty is a joke that has delighted us quite long enough, ( with apologies to Jane Austen.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I rather thought that would be the way of it. Excellent.

So when are you guys going to get round to setting the rest of us an example and declare yourselves a Republic?

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

You are a model for us all.

I, too, need to call the plumbers but have been putting it off out of fear.

You have inspired me. Another week of fasting and prayer and I, too, will be ready to have new bathtub pipes put in.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's Ailz who deserves the praise. Left to myself I wouldn't have done a thing.

Like you I'm frightened of having the workmen in. I'm afraid they'll cheat me.

But this man (he's at it now) comes garlanded with personal recommendation.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes: the fear of being cheated.

Two years ago the cold water tap wouldn't close, and I had water pouring into the bathtub.

The company sent out their Emergency Man, a very nervous plumber who kept running back and forth to his truck to search for parts.

I sat in despait on the living room sofa as he passed by me, sometimes muttering and sometimes shaking his head.

Once he said, "I don't know, Lady. These pipes are really old and not standard. It's not looking too good in the ballpark."

He would go back into the bathroom and drop heavy tools on the floor (making me jump in horror) and curse.

Finally he cobbled together a fix and was able to turn everything back on, but he told us to NEVER USE THE BATHTUB TAP again, only the SHOWER TAP.

Then he drove off without his Water Main Turner, which I left on the porch for a week. He never picked it up.

Now my hands are shaking again. I fear plumbers and their little ways more than anyone except auto mechanics.

(I once had a plumber hold up a broken pipe and say softly, "Lady, I'm gonna make you cry.")

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Our man is very pleasant.

He drinks his tea black with one sugar.

And just now he came into my study and asked me very solicitously if the equipment he'd parked on the floor was in my way.

He's been using a blow-torch and there's a delicious smell of burning in the air.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Oh, he's there now?

Yes, he sounds like a very refined plumber.

In fact I thought he was dropping by your study to ask you if you'd read Milton lately, he'd been trying to remember how that sonnet went and did you have a copy?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I just snuck a peek.

The washstand is in pieces all over the floor. The toilet (I'm glad to say) is still in working order.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

The toilet (I'm glad to say) is still in working order.

A refined and thoughtful plumber.

You are blessed.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And now he's finished for the day. We have the new sink and toilet installed and there's just the radiator to connect up.

I don't like having workmen in- even refined and thoughtful ones- I feel like I have to move round the house on tiptoe.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

All in all, a wonderful day! That's great news.

Is this the bathroom that you painted last fall?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It is.

Various areas of unpainted wall have been exposed, so I've got some touching up to do.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

The best recommendation for a plumber is if your friends had work done and did they recommend the plumber. I have a woman friend who is a great plumber.

But I also have a secret weapon. Before Dad became an Electrician's Mate in the Navy, he was a plumber's apprentice. He hated it, but my father never did anything half way. He can tell me what needs to be done...

Jackie, wish I could send you my friend Fred....

[morrison-maiden.livejournal.com]

Hehe, now in America, at my house, I'd probably be freaking out that there's no plumbing :-X

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I was freaking out- but I kept it hidden.

The work's finished now and I can relax.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I would never have guessed that you were freaking out.

Well done.

Now it is my turn, but I don't think I will be half so brave and stoic. I'll need to leave the house for the day, I think.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm a Brit, you see. The stiff upper lip is our religion.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I had overlooked that British coolness under fire.

I don't have enough British blood: I'm Scotch-Irish. I think they must be a nervous lot, if I'm any indicator.

And broke. Probably get cheated by plumbers all the time.

We're also gullible, aren't we? Yes.

You're lucky.

But, hold: I have a drop or two of Cherokee running hotly through my veins.

Surely that should count for something when the going gets tough.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Scotch-Irish- ah, that makes you an imaginative Celt.

I'm English as far back as I know. Maybe there's some Hugenot French in there too, but that's only a guess.

My first wife had Cherokee blood, which means my children have it too. Gosh, we're practically related.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

My psychic (remember him?) said I had a Guide who looked just like Cochise standing beside me.

I've never been able to find a photograph of Cochise.

How about that?

I have a bit of British blood, too--my father's mother was a Little.

We're all related, I think, by now.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My first wife's maiden name was Coakley- which is, I think, an Irish name. She came from Elizabethtown Kentucky, which can't be all that far from where you live.

According to the palaeontologists we are all descended from an original Eve who lived in Africa a few million years ago. I like that idea. Even the most bigoted of white suprematists has African ancestors.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Why, yes! Elizabethton is right up the road!

We are all related. I'm convinced of it.