Job's A Good'un

Our man hadn't come prepared to move the vent. The job was listed on the worksheet but I guess he hadn't read it- and it took a visit from his boss to set him straight. Government legislation has got a lot more pernickety since we last had a boiler installed-and vents now have to be placed a set number of inches above an abutting roof- so they don't get blocked by snow or whatever- and our old vent was positioned much too close to the roof of the shed.  If our man had known he was going to have to sort this out he might have brought a step ladder and an assistant.

As it was he borrowed our ladder (well it's not our ladder really, it belonged to a deceased relative of Carl's and is being stored in our cellar- God only knows why) and leaned it against the plastic guttering of the shed.   After it slipped and he fell off, I appointed myself his assistant and anchored its base and got myself showered with brick dust while he used this fabulous drill- a bit like an apple corer- to take a great plug of brick out of the wall. I thought our walls were two bricks thick- but they aren't; they're three!

The best thing about having workmen in, is the hour or two after they've gone. The pressure lifts, you have your space to yourself again and everything is so, so quiet.