I've had a good day..

Herself scored some nearly new spouting from a building renovation site this week. Today I started putting it up where the old stuff had rotted through. The two worst places were in the courtyard, & over the kitchen window, running down into our vege garden. Its that bad there, that in the winter time, I generally have to chase off various Asians who want to plant rice there.

I decided to start with the bit in the courtyard, as its a relatively short span of some 4.6 meters. Just a straight run with a down pipe at one end. Rip the old stuff out, cut a new bit to length, graft in a PVC end cap because I can't be stuffed soldering a metal one in, marry it up to a PVC collection box & graft the whole lot on to an existing metal down pipe.. Walk in the park stuff for a seasoned handyman like myself.

And it would have been too, apart from the fact that the space to put it in is very limited, & not having arms like a gorilla, I had to keep shifting the ladder from end to end to get it all set up right. Plus we are talking new technology here, as PVC & steel fittings are similar , but not exactly alike. Praise be to Allah for silicone sealers is all I've got to say on the matter. Now that I have the technique down pat, the existing run along the front of the house should be a walk in the park hmm..

What complicated things was that one of my workmates had asked for my help to fix a leak from his toilet cistern. It was a result of shoddy replacement of an old cistern with a bodged bit of pipe putting strain on the plastic bit of the ballcock. I could have just done it for him & saved myself at least half the time that it took for me to explain what needed doing & standing back patiently while he did it himself. That way, he has learned a new skill & acquired a bit more self confidence. When he had finished, he looked at me & said, "Y'know, you're like the father I never had." It took the wind out of my sails somewhat. Nobody has ever said that to me before. It made getting behind with my spouting well worth while.

Herself went to a meeting of the Red Hat Society today. I think we both hoped that a little bit of silliness would help take her mind off things a bit. It didn't. They were far too noisy & trivial for her. She much prefers the quiet & companionship of the patchwork group.