Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

savingholmes said:

Glad Uncle F is redeeming himself. 

WI description sounds funny. I've often wondered about joining... 

Have fun at the book club.

If you ever want to join WI SH, I'd find out which local groups operate in your area and go and visit a few on their meeting night.  You can usually attend each group a couple of times before becoming a member and it would give you a chance to see which group suits.  They are all very different.  I tried three groups before settling on the one I attend now.

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, sounds like some lovely festive treats at your end, how spiffing! Glad Uncle F is redeeming himself!

They will come in very handing Cheery as I'm in need of a very stiff drink right now.

beanielou said:

Pass the truffles 

I would if there were any left Beanie 🤭

rtandon27 said:

Fortune_Smiles said:

... A thank you from Uncle F... he's redeeming himself 🤭

Aww Fortune - this gave me a good laugh, but it is heartening to know that he understands your upset!

It was very kind of him RT and, if I'm to moan about him when he gets it wrong, I should celebrate him when he gets it right.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

What a Palaver!

I had a lovely evening at book club.  Our host member had made a little festive tea for us with mulled wine, mince pies, cheese pastries and cake.  It was such fun.

Today, however, has not been fun at all.  Plumber was due to arrive in the afternoon but turned up very early doors whilst I was still in my dressing gown.  He fitted the new macerator in the en-suite and happily travelled on to his next job.  I went up to tidy up and discovered that, if you ran the basin tap, the shower tray filled up with water and, if you ran the shower, the water didn't drain away.  There was also a small leak - just a tiny dribble but you never know how these things are going to escalate.  So I called the plumber and he rushed back.  After fiddling about for a bit he called the manufacturer and was told that he'd fitted the wrong macerator.  The one he'd fitted worked on flow rate and, because our pipe drop is very shallow, we needed one with a sensor.

A bit frustrating because I'd done some research on macerators before calling him in and, when he came round to quote, we talked about the pipe drop and how we'd need to make sure we got the right machine.  Of course, some time has passed since then and he'd forgotten.  To give him his due, he was only trying to save us money.  He'd fitted a model which was significantly cheaper than most others and one he'd fitted before and had no problems with.  Plus he put his hands up as soon as he realised his mistake and gave us some options to remedy the situation.

So... we have decided to pay £650 for a very good quality and very quiet model as suggested by the manufacturer (rather than the £260 we were expecting).  It is possible (although unlikely) that even this will struggle with out rubbish pipework.  If it does, we can re-route the basin and shower pipework to avoid the macerator.  This was the second option anyway but we'd rather not have the upheaval and delay if we can avoid it so are going to try posh mac first.  Plumber is going to fit us in next week as soon as the new machine arrives.  But until then we won't be able to use the en-suite which is in chaos.  Plumber won't be charging us for the original macerator or for fitting the second as that's down to his mistake.

I'm pleased in a way as the macerator he'd fitted was significantly noisier than the original.  Mr F was happy with it and, not knowing how noisy new macerators are generally, I was just going with it.  However, a super quiet one would be much better.

With all of that going on I haven't achieved very much at all today.  Just a bit of money shuffling and Christmas shopping.  Mr F didn't feel well enough in the end to drive the eight hour round trip for his Christmas do so has been unexpectedly at home.  I stretched the final portion of soup and sausage pie for lunch and supper just for convenience with all the plumbing chaos going on.  A cheese and crisp roll 😂  made the soup more of a meal and a tin of baked beans made the pie go further (both Mr F's suggestion).

Tomorrow is likely to be an interrupted day too as they are coming to fit the blinds.  Very exciting... that is if all goes well with those 😲

Mr F is going out to a 4x4 Response Team meeting tonight.  He was a member when we lived in Kent but hasn't been home enough to be involved since we moved here.  Now his travel has lessened he might be able to help out again.  I'm going to be spending the night in front of the telly eating truffles 😆

Oh @Cheery_Daff - why are we doing this to ourselves 😆

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

Good question Fortune! 😂 what a palaver. I confess I have no idea what a macerator is - I was thinking it was something to do with food waste disposal but perhaps not if you're putting it in the end suite 😂 I shall go and look it up so I don't spend too much time imagining you having your toes munched off accidentally while in the shower 😮😮😂

Fingers crossed for your blinds (damn it, I'll need to think about those at some point! Not now though. .). Glad the mince pie event was a cheerful one!

savingholmes

Thanks for the suggestion re WI - will definitely try a few when I'm ready. 

Glad the plumber owned his mistake and is sorting it. Ouch to the bill.

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Good question Fortune! 😂 what a palaver. I confess I have no idea what a macerator is - I was thinking it was something to do with food waste disposal but perhaps not if you're putting it in the end suite 😂 I shall go and look it up so I don't spend too much time imagining you having your toes munched off accidentally while in the shower 😮😮😂

Fingers crossed for your blinds (damn it, I'll need to think about those at some point! Not now though. .). Glad the mince pie event was a cheerful one!

I wouldn't look too closely into macerators Cheery 😆  At least not until after supper 😆 They are a necessary evil.  I suspect they had to put one in our en-suite because the planning prohibited external pipes.

Shopping for blinds was quite fun... at least more fun than macerator shopping 😂

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

savingholmes said:

Thanks for the suggestion re WI - will definitely try a few when I'm ready. 

Glad the plumber owned his mistake and is sorting it. Ouch to the bill.

Ouch indeed SH.  But it's not something you replace everyday (the last one kept going for 14 years) so I'd rather pay more and have a good quality product that works quietly and won't need replacing again anytime soon.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

What has become of my life?

I've just read my last post.  A whole page on replacing a macerator 😲  I really need to get out more.  If you're still reading, I don't know how you've stayed awake 😂

Fortune x

rtandon27

😂Fortune - let me be the first to say we all need to get out more - lol

...and I actually enjoyed your post about the macerator!

savingholmes

It made me grateful for normal plumbing

ruby_eskimo

savingholmes said:

It made me grateful for normal plumbing

Same here!  They are a necessary evil in hospitals too and I'm not ashamed to say I'd literally run out of the sluice as soon as I'd switched it on just in case something went wrong back in my clinical days 😆😏  Hope the new one does the job and you don't have to go down another route.