INCHES.

In our home, we wait until something is on its last legs before it is repaired or a new one is bought.

The large glass in our back door was cracked, so Paul covered the whole glass section with a large thin wood panel. It was like that for 7 years then when we had money, we were able to get a new glass put in. The whole kitchen was then light and bright again!

We could do with a new kitchen, but unless we win the lottery that will never happen. We don’t do the lottery, and in our home, we get used to broken things.

We eventually got our boiler serviced, the lovely man that did it for 10 years every year, didn’t bother to return my call. So, on our local community group chat Paul asked, “Is there a plumber who could service our boiler?” A man came forward and did a grand job, for a good price. I asked David if he, “Knew anyone who could fix the tap in our bathroom sink, as no water has come out of the hot water tap for a year!” He gave me Phil’s number I rang Phil, he came and had a look, and said, “Tomorrow, I will give you a quote.” I am still waiting two months later for that quote. I assume just using cold water to wash our hands, has saved us money by not using the hot water tap!           

Our old tatty cooker was in a very bad state, it was difficult to shut the oven door, the door to the grill was hanging off and worst still to light the oven you have to get on your hands and knees with a bit of screwed up newspapers and aim the flame through a certain hole at the side of the lower part of the oven. The hard tile floor hurts mine and Paul’s knees, and it hasn’t help that I have had a bad knee recently. Most of the time, if the rest of the family is out or still asleep and I want to put something in the oven, for my breakfast or brunch, I have to give up, as the newspaper flame keeps going out, as the gas is escaping, I keep thinking, how long do I keep the gas on, before the house explodes? Thus, killing us all and my neighbours!? In the end I have to give up, for pressing the gas on, and trying to find the hole in the dark oven on my one knee is crazy in this day and age!

This year I did order a new cooker; I was going to pay for it over 6 months interest free. I was excited, at having a bit of a normal life, an easy life, of what people take for granted. The date was set for the delivery, when the company that was going to install it, rang me, and asked for a photo of the space around the old cooker. They wanted measurements from the left of the cooker and the right of the cooker, they wanted to know about the plug above the cooker, I would say it is about a foot and a half high above the cooker on the wall. This plug has two sockets; one is if the cooker is electric and the other is a plug for anything.

In January this year we were skint as most people are after Christ mas, hence the 6 months interest free. The huge rich famous company that was going to instal the brand new cooker, said to me, “You have to get an electrician in and get him to remove that plug from above the cooker,” I asked, “Why?” The big famous company said, “Because the law has changed and now it is not allowed.” I said, “Our house is over one hundred years old, that plug has been there for ever, we have had cookers installed over the years and never had a problem.” We went backwards and forwards with the conversation and with Meghan’s help photos were sent to them. The rich fat cat company said, “We will not install the cooker!” I said, “We can’t afford an electrician we are skint.” So, we lost the battle and I had to go into the store and cancel the order of our brand new cooker.

Now we have a dangerous cooker, that is past servicing and dangerous to light, the rest of the family seem to be able to light the cooker, but I struggle to, out of the say, 30 times I have tried to light it on my own, I have succeeded only thrice! It has been very disheartening. What I have had to do is improvised by using the grill instead. Recently the door to the grill fell off!!! That is a first in my life, that I have known that to happen.

Throughout the year, I have asked other people if they would do it, I refuse to have someone who is not Corgi Registered, I owe my family that much!

The latest man I asked for the Plumber, while he was at our home I showed him about our tatty cooker and the problem with lighting it, he could see just how easy a job it would be to unplug the old gas cooker and plug in the new! He said, “I will find out about the plug above and get back to you,” He’d looked at it and said, “I can’t see there been a problem,” It would be the easiest £60 buck he would ever make!

Of course, as usual he didn’t reply to me, so I text him and asked, “When will you be coming and how much will it be?” He replied, “I can’t do it.” So, we were back to square one. In despair, Paul googled information about it, the darn plug above the cooker, and it turns out it only applies in a very long document to new built houses, it does not apply to our old houses, like ours. Paul wanted me to send the very long, complex info document to the plumber, but I felt it was a waste of time, for he’d already made his mind up, not to do the job. Even if it would have been the easiest buck he would ever make.                        

So, it seems the powers that be, that make and changes rules, don’t think of the little people, or the poor who can’t afford over a hundred pounds to pay for a PLUG to be moved. So, instead of making things safer for us all, there are people just like us, we got no one to put in our cooker, for us like they did in the past. I don’t know how safe or unsafe is our cooker, I just wish things were different and better and new, than this uncertainty. I don’t know how long we will have to put up with this tatty cooker.

But I do know, the next time there is an explosion in England, it will make me think, and about their too late, after the horse has bolted investigations!