1st April 2012

'Twas on a Monday morning....April Fools' Day it may be, but...After two weeks, absolute chaos in the house. Furniture covered in brick dust. A large plaster hole has appeared in the ceiling. No kitchen, no bathroom, plates and utensils in Outer Mongolia and the electric plug converter for the old cooker downstairs missing. But that wasn't all. Various electric sockets had been moved and no dial tone on the phone. No hot water at all, and a peculiar sewer smell emanated from the bathroom. Oh, and the TV: 'No satellite signal is being received'. Aargh!  
Coincidence, he said, when confronted with the useless phone, TV and the fallen plaster. For the phone (and what do I know, I'm no engineer) I suggested he try putting the phone wire up in the loft. Voila. It now works. Later, when I asked the tiler, he said that the plaster problem happened when the electrician was up i the loft. Finally, our friendly (English) SkyinFrance man arrived. In the loft he found that the TV cables had come loose and someone(!) had refixed them wrongly causing the diplexor to blow. At last, someone who knew what he was doing. When I asked the electrician for a reduction due to all the problems, he replied 'Ah, non'. Trouble is, our French electrician is also the plumber....last seen scratching his head over the foul drain.
....It all makes work for the working man to do.