This last week has been one of those weeks when you’re glad they’re behind you. Rather than knowing they’re in front of you. It’s been an experience. And I just feel a little bit shattered.
The work I do is more of a young man’s work. Or younger. Sometimes I find it hard to bring all the pieces together in order to do a job that I’d be happy to have done for myself. And with one job this week I ended up fixing a panel to a ceiling that’s previously had water leaks. So they needed an inspection panel. So I made one and as I was fitting it, the screws weren’t quite biting into the joists. So I took them out and I got longer ones. And unbeknown to me, there were some hidden radiator pipes that had been drilled through a joist and fitted through. And one of the screws I used ended up going through it. Aaaargh! And as the water came out, my glasses fell off.
I tried ringing the owner as regards to where the stopcock was whilst all this water was flowing out and spraying everywhere. I wasn’t getting no joy getting hold of the person so I put the screw back into the pipe to slow down the leak and have a bit of a scout round to find the stopcock. Which was a palava but I finally found it outside. So I turned the water off and went up the ladder to take the screw out, only to tread on my glasses on the way down.
It was one of those days when you’re thinking, “What’s going to happen next?”
In the end I managed to sort the leak out, clean up and everything was made good. And when I popped round the following day, the ceiling had already started to dry and you wouldn’t have thought that such a calamity had happened only a short time earlier.
But on the night of this water leak, after having a meal with friends, we ended up having a puncture on the van! We were on a dual carriage way at the time and I couldn’t stop until we got to either a layby or, as it happened, a bus stop. So, just after ten o’ clock at night, with cars and lorries zipping by, I managed to jack up the van and change the tyre.
By eleven o’clock we were rolling again. And I just drove to where we were parking up in silence. I was exhausted.
And right now, I still feel a little bit drained. And I’m looking forward to the nice weather. It doesn’t help when it’s always wet and it’s always cold. But I guess that’s part and parcel of vanlife. You’ve got to take the rough with the nice. So roll on the nice. That’s all I can say for now. Thank you
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