Saturday 25 April 2020

From Depression to Elation in 1½ hrs.



Yesterday morning began with dark clouds, and a feeling of doom. If it's not one thing it's another. First Brexit, then Covid, then a burst bloody pipe! As they say, bad things arrive in threes.

Just to make matters worse, the burst was about a metre underground, somewhere between the meter on the lawn (where our plumber is, above), and the interior on/off tap. We'd imagined diggers, piles of earth, and mess mess and more mess.

Jean-Pierre (our plumber) is a bloody genius. Rather than dig up the whole garden, he passed a new pipe inside the burst one, connected it up, and Bob's your uncle. Of course it was a tad more complicated than that, but basically that's it.... invisible, painless, mending.


He's a wonderful chap our Jean-Pierre, he's the plumbing equivalent of one of those small country car mechanics who can fix anything with a good kick and a length of wire. 

We are so lucky to have him. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You cannot imagine the feelings of relief we felt! 

"The hills are alive, with the sound of running water, tra la la....."

38 comments:

  1. What a good man. I thought it was you fixing it.

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    1. I wouldn't have known where to begin. He's a genius.

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  2. How fortunate to have such an ingenious local tradesman.

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    1. My car mechanic is very similar in many ways, he'll always look for a simple, less expensive, way of mending things. I'm blessed.

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  3. I can hear your relief and joy.
    A local tradesman worth his weight in gold.

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    1. Absolutely, and one we can rely on in times of disaster.

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  4. Good lateral thinking or just standard smart plumbing work. No reduction in water pressure with a smaller pipe?

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    1. A tiny bit, but that's mostly to do with a new pressure valve; it's barely noticeable.

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  5. Sounds like my man. Very good to have trades people like this.

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    1. Especially out in the country; where would we be without them. I said that to Jean-Pierre yesterday.

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  6. Brilliant...worth his weight in gold!
    People like that should be valued in every field (not just your lawn!!)

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    1. He lifted our spirits in a way that no-one else could have. Wonderful.

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  7. For 30+ years I used a central heating engineer/plumber who had totally replumbed on a major refurb job for us and then maintained ancient boilers in two houses since. I nearly cried when he told me he was retiring. Then he found me someone much younger! Hopefully this lovely chap will see us out!

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    1. My wonderful car mechanic has now retired, but he's kept his workshop and does little bits for 'special clients'. I don't know what I'd do without him.

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  8. Great job. Now he does deserve a clap.

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  9. I can feel your joy emanating from my screen in great waves!

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    1. You have no idea how relieved we were; we were really expecting the worst.

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  10. Good thinking Batman !!! It’s so lovely to have reliable plumbers/electricians etc isn’t it ? It took us ages but we finally found someone who does everything ... they also maintain blocks of flats so , along with the usual, they have bricklayers, pointers .... you name it, they know someone ! XXXX

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    1. We used to have someone like that in Brighton, and he worked almost exclusively in our road. Then one day he disappeared; it was like a bereavement.

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  11. Let's hope this is the beginning of good things to come.

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    1. That's a nice idea. Always look on the bright side of life.

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  12. We had our gas to the house updated in the same way, bloody clever, we thought they may have had to dig up part of our drive. No mess at all.

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    1. You must know how I feel then. What a relief!!

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  13. Reliable folk to be called upon in an emergency is very high on my list of essentials Cro.

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    1. He's wonderful, he always comes at once. We pay him properly too, so maybe that's part of our good relationship.

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  14. And of course Jean-Pierre did it all for free. That's why he is a saint. Some fellows are great practical problem solvers.

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    1. We wanted to pay him at once, but he had to prepare some papers for us for the Water Co. Apparently our bills will now reduce, and we may even have a rebate. Sounds good.

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  15. Such a worry when things like that happen. You must be so relieved that it was fairly easily fixed. Phew!

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    1. I cannot tell you how I felt... I was totally elated!

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  16. Just to say, as I have more time on my hands than I know what to do with, I looked up English Prime ministers talking from No. 10 and there are images of David Cameron and Theresa May with the same flags behind them .... there might be others but I got bored and gave up looking after that 🇬🇧😂🤣🇬🇧 XXXX

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    1. I'm surprised, this is the first time I'd noticed it. I still don't like the tacky graphics for the message on the podium.

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  17. I knew of that repair with natural gas lines, but not water. How great is that.

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    1. I'm still feeling the 'buzz' 24 hrs later!

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