April 16th: Hurrah for plumbers

One aspect of #isolation life is that you're not quite sure who's out there when something goes wrong. Last night I was running a bath, and as I switched the tap off water started pouring our of the shower controls (fortunately not an electric one) above the bath. This happened once before many years ago and required a new cartridge (don't ask me - I thought that's what you put in pens and printers), but this was 8pm in lockdown.  I shut the water off and rang a local plumber I've used before who's generally available quickly and doesn't charge a callout fee. After a chat I sent him a short video and photo of the problem. He was able to come out this morning early (obviously adhering to strict social distancing - we were talking to each other from different rooms!). You can see from the photo below, it wasn't a little leak.

We were supposed to be having this old en-suite bathroom gutted and replaced this week. The work should have started on Tuesday but due to the lockdown that's not happening. So the choice was replace the cartridge (they're not cheap and they're not always easy to source, especially now), or just take it off and blank the pipes given once lockdown is over everything's going.  All things being equal, the latter choice made the most sense. Fortunately we have two other showers in the house so losing this one temporarily isn't a major issue. Job done. And if you're ever in need of a plumber in the Dinas Powys/Penarth/Barry area, give Marcus Jones a ring.

We reprised our walk on the golf course this morning, this time with our son in tow now he's been furloughed and wasn't doing anything. A gentle 2.8 miles. Given the news that's been announced today that the lockdowns is going to be in place for at least another three weeks, we'll probably be doing a few more of these. As an aside, on our (not quite every day) walk I've definitely noticed that traffic is increasing. People are getting fed up I think. Stick with it folks.

And finally, even the cat's got the hang of this now #washyourpaws

Stay safe. Wash those paws!

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives