Mayhem at the OK Corrall!

As I mentioned in a previous post, these last few days seem to have had everything collapsing around my ears. Earlier in the year I posted about my water heater conking out. To be honest, it didn't owe me anything as it had to be about 20 years old, but I do wonder sometimes why these things can't conk out in the summer when I don't care so much about hot water, rather than in January when it is -12°! Oh well, not my decision I suppose. As luck would have it my son was off the day it died so was able to run out, buy a new one and install it before I even got home from work (one of the advantages of having a plumber for a son)!  I think I had also mentioned that I am getting my external balcony completely re-done and a side gate to block access to my back garden. Well the young man who will be doing the metal work had told me he couldn't do it before spring 2018 (not a problem for me) but he took the railings off last last year so I have been without railings on that balcony for about six months now. Again not a problem as long I didn't have too much to drink over Christmas (I didn't). Having those railings removed allowed the mason to come in and remove about one third of the balcony and re-build it as it was pretty rotten (ha, and to think I had bought a bucket and chisel and was going to "do it myself" - it was the full scaffolding, support, week-long job). All well and good so far, except that about six weeks ago my son noticed a small crack in the balcony. I did my usual "let's ignore it and see if it goes away" business but it didn't. Then another crack appeared - blinkers on again, but still it didn't go away. Until last weekend when it didn't stop peeing down and I ended up being virtually able to take a shower underneath my balcony. I was worried that the water could have been channeled into one of three bedrooms on the first floor or into my kitchen, so I called the mason and he came right back out. He spent another three days working on it (trying to work around the rain) but although he repaired the cracks he wasn't too happy about it. Now I trust this young man and he has done great work for me before, but he called me two days ago to say that he was having exactly the same problem with my neighbour's balcony and the only solution he could find was to repair it, put down a rubberized, waterproof layer and then tile it!

At this point I'm thinking "oh to hell with it, if it has to be done".... Only thing is, that's going to cost me another €1,000 for the work on top of the initial €1,800, then I have about €300 to fork out for the tiles themselves. Oh well! Easy come, easy go, I suppose!  On top of that, my microwave died last week - again not a major problem is it to buy a new microwave, so that was planned for this weekend.  Except on Sunday I felt like cooking so while the oven was heating up I prepared some stuffed chicken breasts. It struck me as odd that the oven seemed to have reached "cruising altitude" in about three minutes, as opposed to the usual ten, but ... Anyway, I took my kitchen timer and popped round to drop something off to my neighbour's. I was only gone 10 minutes (according to the timer) but when I got in the house there was smoke streaming out of the oven! "Chicken's cooked" sez I! Turns out the chicken was more than cooked, it had been turned into two pieces of charcoal. Thankfully I hadn't hung around at my neighbours as I am pretty sure the oven was on the point of bursting into flames!  Again, the oven didn't owe me anything but bloody hell, that could so easily have burned the house down! Looking at the "fault" indicated, the block that should have prevented the oven from going past 180° seemed to have failed so the oven just kept getting hotter and hotter. I managed to get it turned off but three hours later the fan had still not been able to cool the oven so not wanting to go to bed with that risk hanging over my head I found the corresponding fuse and took it out of the fuse box. Problem solved right? Except that was the fuse that also ran my fridge!!! At that point (it was around 11 p.m.) I thought "sod it" and left the fuse out and fridge defrosting gaily!! As soon as I put the fuse back in the oven started up again so I had no choice really did I!

They say it never rains but it pours does it. Still, I am more than aware that I am lucky enough to have a good job and can afford to repair/replace these things, so while it is a pain in the butt it is nothing more serious than that. The next day I was able to order a new oven and Thursday and Friday being a holiday here I am having it delivered on Friday!  On top of that, the friend of my son who is going to be doing the metalwork for the balcony and the side gate finally has the time to do it, so he will be coming out to take measurements (and pick up a down payment) in order to start work on that. Seems like I'm going to be having a party at my house on Friday then - the oven people, the mason and the metalworker!

Oh, and did I mention that every week I give myself a pedicure? Probably not eh! Anyway, I had seen a "recipe" which called for soaking your feet in two parts hot water to one part vinegar and one part mouthwash (it works - I love it). Only thing is, I had run out of mouthwash so picked up a "stronger" version when I was in town. It was bright green - and that's probably ok when you are only rinsing your mouth with it briefly. However, when you have soaked your feet in it for 20 minutes guess what happens?  Yep, I ended up having to wear boots on Monday and Tuesday until "lime green trench foot" wore off!

The hole where my oven should be!

I'm hoping somebody steals it!