I got an email from across the pond telling me about a Plumber’s blog.

Isn’t it wonderful  here I am talking to myself in a seaside town in Kent, next thing I might be discussing almost anything from breast feeding to children’s education with folk from anywhere in the world.

Anywhere - so long as they speak English, of course.  Me being a typical product of my culture, I can order 2 beers in any European language, that’s all.

The plumber’s blog was not in English, it was in American.  I often find their language very difficult to understand, as well as their culture, president… etc.  Mr Tara Plumbing lived out in that country for a while, he told me their plumbing standards and techniques are (generally) excellent. 

Anyway, there was a blog: Top Ten Plumbing Mistakes, I quote here (with out a translation in to my native tongue) and a link for the full thing is below:

• 10. Trying to solder pipes with water still dripping or just trying to solder if you have
  never tried it.
  9. Re-using old supply lines and p-traps made of metal.
  8. Asking how to at Home Depot or Lowes (Exception Ace Hardware’s employees do seem
  to know their stuff.)
  7. Buying an assortment of fittings so you have enough parts. (Tip: take off your faucet or fixture and bring
  the parts that will be connecting to the store and make sure you have the proper connections and lines.)
  6. Starting your kitchen faucet or sink replacement an hour before dinner
  5. Not sealing threads with plumbers tape or Not using plumbers’ putty on your drain connections
  4. Buying cheap off brand faucets (Especially for behind the wall installations.)
  3. Not turning off the house main water valve before starting your plumbing project.
  2. Having your Friend or Relative there to give you advice. Or Letting your wife/husband watch.
  1. Starting the job and then deciding to call a plumber
• http://www.shopdpoblog.com/2008/06/top-10-do-it-yourself-plumbing-mistakes.html

    Got me thinking I must  ask Mr T.P. for his top 10, I think I’ve probably mentioned some of them previously in my blog.   They might include things like:

forgetting to leave your number on our ansaphone; asking why we haven’t called you back - when you haven’t yet listened to our message on your ansaphone; telling us you didn’t pay the last plumber because you didn’t like him; …

Anyway, the American Plumber’s blog includes lots of questions and answers to plumbing problems, a fantastic resource - for anyone who might be researching plumbing problems in the U.S.A!

http://www.shopdpoblog.com/

Can any one tell me why Ramsgate beach was empty today? 

One could count the number of people on the sand this afternoon.  One could, but I didn’t.  I couldn’t believe how empty it was.  I went down there a few weeks ago on a similar beautiful Sunday afternoon - that time I thought perhaps the lack of people was due to the Big air Event going on in Margate. 

Just a thought but does the lack of car parking have anything to do with it?

Thank goodness. I think I have commented myself on previous occasions that £1.30 per hour for the privilege of Parking in Margate does not make sense.

Similarly the park parking charges in Northdown Road, Cliftonville and in Ramsgate town centre should be addressed.

Check links to my previous blogs  - local to Thanet - in right hand collumn.

For more about local car parking read the blog and comments here:

http://bignewsmargate.blogspot.com/2008/06/its-start-for-margate.html

Plumbers are very touchy sensitive creatures - as I often warn regular readers.

I was out of the office when Mr Tara Plumbing took a call from someone who demanded that T.P. should attend and fix a broken boiler.

” Did we install it?”

‘No’

” Why should we come and fix it then?”

I know - we run a business so that might sound a strange question.

Reason: We really are a grumpy old pair who can’ tolerate bad manners / rudeness.

” We only attend to boilers we have installed - that way I can be confident that it has been installed correctly; I might be able to diagnose the problem; and I might even have a spare replacement part!”

Mr T.P. asked: ” Whyhave you called us? Why not call whoever normally services your boiler” Reply: ‘ It is only 4 years old.’

Mr T.P.: “It should have been serviced every year.”Then the caller went on to tell Mr T.P. that they had called British Gas but thought they were too expensive.

The sort of comment that always amazes us and begs the question:

“Why do you imagine we would be any cheaper?”

” Why do you imagine T.P. want to come and fix your problems at some discount price when you could not even be bothered to have the system regularly checked and maintained!”

In the event of boiler breakdown our advise is always contact:

1. The installer (if recent);
2. The person who regularly services it;
3. The boiler manufacturer.

We’ve had quotes for a conservatory from some local companies.

I’m glad I was sitting down when they told me the price!

One salesman was particularly amusing with his patter. He told us that people like conservatories because they can add another room on to their house for the fraction of the price of a ‘proper’ extension.

He must have been talking improper fractions, you know, the top number higher than the bottom. In calculator terms you are multiplying by more than 1.00 (100%+).

He quoted a massive figure compared to the full cost of a much larger extension which are building -an extension that includes electrics, radiators, a new kitchen and shower room - all with the benefit of of meeting current building regulations regarding insulation and windows.

Doing a bit more research has made me wonder if people are buying ‘conservatories’ as a false economy.

The salesman made clear that they are not even built to the same standard as real extensions - so they do NOT have:

• FENSA regulation covering the windows
• floor insulation.

The salesman told us that floor insulation is not really necessary, it makes no difference.

Mr Tara Plumbing and I listened on, smiling, nodding, and totally disagreeing.

We know about floor insulation - we have first hand experience in homes we have lived in and building conversions that we have worked on.

If you really want to use the conservatory as a room, believe me, the best and thickest floor insulation possible will make a huge difference and the expense is minimal.

Anyone who has been camping or slept rough on the streets (I’ve done both) - perhaps you have too, waiting for sales to open, or entry into Wimbledon - will know the difference floor insulation makes. A flattened cardboard box is highly effecting, so are the purpose made bed rolls.

Modern building regulations require a good standard of floor insulation for a reason - it reduces conduction of cold from the ground surface and is highly effective.

More blogs on this subject are bound to follow.

To be completly explicit I should say, based on the photographs, that is naked people riding bikes, not people riding naked bikes.

I am amazed to discover that in June all around the world people are embarking on naked bike rides.

Http://nakedwiki.org/index.php?title=List_of_rides#UK

I only heard about this because I’m on a yahoo list of vegetarians - we meet up occasionally and indulge in eating vegan food. The email that caught my attention said would it be fun to all meet up and express our naturist urges!

Some people have replied - they are going. Can you imagine meeting up with strangers and vague acquaintances, with no clothes on! I can - I can imagine it could be a lot of fun - if it was indoors, some where very private and very comfortable - I think there are other websites for arranging that kind of rendezvous.

I am not at all inhibited and there is no part of my body that I’m embarrassed about or would like to change - really. I’d rather try Isaac Newton’s experiment of putting pins in my eyes, however, than ride a bicycle with out at least 2 layers of cloth between my very delicate private parts and the saddle. As well as comfort there are hygiene considerations… Sorry.

It has also been more than a decade since my mammories could be allowed out and about unleashed, though I do support a fine pair, this is again for their own comfort - I don’t do bra-less. I guess most of the naked female bike riders will be flat-chested, young creatures not 40 somethings such as myself.

Lets not even discuss the British weather, rain and sun burn. Suffice to say, I will not be there but I am very pleased that if some people want to go naked in public, on the streets of London and Brighton then they have an opportunity to do so.

www.worldnakedbikeride.org/uk/

I should add that there is some sort of political message to the event and if you want to join in you do not have to go bare.

http://nakedwiki.org/wiki/London

Some people do not realise that a safety test on a gas appliance is important and it is a big deal - they should be regularly serviced and maintained. To underline the importance - every month people are dying in this country, preventable deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning from a gas appliance, e.g. a gas boiler.

The story in the newspapers recently of the death of a little girl, Elisabeth Giauque, shows it could happen to anyone. Her parents were multimillionaires, living in the sort of house that multimillionaires live in. They were in a very nice rented house but how many home owners get their gas boilers regularly checked?

You are probably aware that landlord are required to pay for annual safety inspections. Mr T.P. has told me that this is a visual inspection, a boiler service at the same time would be a good idea, but it is not compulsory - I never knew that.

Even as a visual inspection it should be thorough. We have been amazed to here of people quoting figures as low as £30-£40 for a boiler service and/or gas safety certificate. Customers are happy to pay this and expect that the corgi registered engineer only has to pop in for a few minutes to look at the property. Not true. Depending on the property and boiler, time required will vary but you can expect the engineer to be in the property for an hour or longer.

How much should you expect to pay? Here in the far flung depths of Kent it would be reasonable to pay between £65-£100 for a boiler service and/or Landlord Gas safety certificate. (Naturally, some companies will do special offers for regular customers, but I couldn’t imagine how anyone could justify a price much under £50).

This blog is not to drum up business for Mr T.P. to inspect the boilers of Thanet, by the way. Actually, Tara Plumbing do not  service boilers or issue Landlord Gas Safety Certificates unless T.P. fitted the boiler (usually).  We also do not, generally, attend to repair faulty boilers - we recommend you telephone the boiler manufacturer. There are a few exceptions (for our regular customers, of course). I have not even mentioned the many faulty gas fire stories I hear but Tara Plumbing do not have anything to do with gas fires.

More about the Elisabeth Giauque story - just search her name or read here:

www.landlordexpert.co.uk/index.php?news=2

Mr Tara Plumbing still has a stupid grin on his face.

It is one of the happiest days of his life - nothing could spoilt it. I’m sure he would still be happy if I told him that his bags were packed because the sexy woman who works at Ramsgate swimming pool is moving in with me instead.

The reason for such elation - football. I do not understand it myself. Lots of men from all over the world wore red T-shirts and another lot of guys from all over the world wore blue T-shirts. There were some obscure references to Manchester and Chelsea, but not many of the players were even English. They all clocked up a few more air miles by going to Russia so they could play football at the usual time of around 8pm GMT+1 (British Summer Time to me).

The normal game last 90 minutes but they decided to make the most of it by dragging it out. On and on and on it went. So that they could say they played a game in the rain which last 2 days (by Moscow local time).

When they lost the blue team were in tears - any mum would tell you its just a game - your probably crying because you’re over tired - fancy running around in the rain until late at night! They seem very bitter - saying its not fair they played better.

The red team on the other hand. Well Mr T.P. supports them. He says it was an emotional roller coaster and at times he felt sick with the worry.

Is this normal? It doesn’t sound healthy to me.

To remove any doubt from your minds: there is a sexy woman but she doesn’t know who I am! No, she’s not moving in!

It is only fair that I tell you there is indeed a fault with the plumbing - not with the shower operators.

That is, further to my last blog, the good people in Pegwell have had to telephone Mr T.P. a couple of times wanting to know about the technique of his magic fingers - that’s another story. Sure enough, he could turn on the shower, but as soon as he left the owners could not.

It turns out it is due to blahblahblah and Mr T.P. will go there on Thursday to do this, that and the other.

My mind switched off when he went into plumbing speak.  Don’t tell him, of course, I let him think I hang lovingly on his every word.

It is the key to a long and happy relationship, apparently, that and something which I cannot mention on a site which might be viewed by minors before the watershed.

When it comes to relationship advice: my mum was adamant that no man would stay with me unless I did his ironing.

My own advice to any woman and man would be that private intimate times are more important than any domestic chores.

We don’t do ironing in our house - we go for the happy but crumpled look!

(Drip dry and slow spin do help).

A recent telephone call: “You’ve installed a lovely shower for us. We’re really pleased with the work, but there is no water coming out.”

ME: “Is there water coming out of the taps?”

“Oh yes, and the shower worked yesterday when your men were here.” 

ME: “So you can clean your teeth and flush the toilet, what more do you need? Of course, that is how you keep your shower looking all lovely and new, but it will get a little dusty.”

The caller had a sense of humour - not everyone does.

I informed Mr T.P. who was at a nearby house in Ramsgate. Within an hour he called back to tell me the shower worked perfectly, the customers simply did not know how to turn it on!

How we laughed. This is far from being a one off incident. Only this morning Mr T.P. returned from a house in Pegwell, again delighted with their new bathroom but the shower was not working.

“Have you tried the obvious?”

Mr T.P. asked the resident, “turning it on.”

Please do not think I’m poking fun at other people - when ever we stay away from home I always have to ask Mr T.P. to turn the shower on and explain how it works… and how do I change the temperature.

I have also had a problem with light switches. They are almost always in the same place, on the wall, just inside the door. Yet I have managed to visit countless houses where I can not find the switch - hunting around inside and outside the room pushing and pulling at everything whilst reciting “Let there be light”. This, of course, is at the most inconvenient time - usually if have to get up in the middle of the night.

Mr T.P.s’ parents have a dimmer switch which is in the usual position but it is a mystery how to operate it.

Let’s not even discuss the domestic nightmare which is the roller blind….