Service with a sharp intake of breath

On Thursday, the washing machine finally breathed its last and my knight in shining armour, aka Keith, sprang onto the internet and, within minutes, had a new one ordered, to be delivered, plumbed in and the old one taken away yesterday. So far so good. Yesterday, I cleared the cupboard under the sink, got everything ready and, give them their due, they arrived as promised.

In fact, all went smoothly until man A looked under the sink and said, in tones of great satisfaction,

"Can't do it!"

"Pardon?" I said.

"Can't do it." There followed a stream of incomprehensible reasons, which, to cut a long story short, boiled down to the fact that a little blue plastic tap had broken off and they weren't allowed to use a wrench, nor to turn the water off at the stop cock.

Man B took his turn at peering under the sink and shook his head gloomily.

"See?" said man A to me triumphantly, "And I haven't even said anything to him!"

The thought crossed my mind to ask which of them was pulling the other's strings, but by great effort of will, I desisted.

When Keith came home, he turned the water off in seconds, with minimal effort and then got on the phone to request that the men return and do what they were contracted to do.

So they are due to return before 12.30 today ...

Watch this space.

TK's Insurance advice

 Is your insurance due for renewal in the new year? Check T.K.'s list below first...

Make sure you get the correct insurance for the sex you are having.
Find below a list of companies catering for most tastes: 

Sex with your wife - Legal & General.
Sex on the telephone - Direct Line.
Sex with your Partner - Standard Life.
Sex with someone Different - Go Compare.
Sex with a lady of generous proportions - More Than.
Sex On the back seat of a car - Sheila's Wheels.
Sex with a posh bird - Privileged
Sex with a prostitute- Commercial Union ;
Sex with your maid- Employer's Liability.
Sex with an OAP - Saga !
Sex resulting in pregnancy- General Accident
and finally
Sex with a transvestite - confused.com

Nadolig Llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda

Or, to put it another way, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I have been up since seven, but awake since four - another of those inexplicable nights when I sleep for a few hours and then lie awake for the next few, but maybe, this time, it was the sound of sleigh bells which woke me, unlike some years in the past when I was Santa, which involved trying to grab an hour's sleep in between creeping into the children's bedrooms to deposit their presents when they had finally gone to sleep and responding to the delighted cries when they woke up and discovered that "he's been!"

It was a very narrow window, which resulted in my spending Christmas day feeling sick with tiredness. I have never been able to deal with lack of sleep!

But these days, Christmas day is calmer. Dad is here for the week and Keith insists on cooking Christmas dinner. What a gem he is!  Reason given is that he doesn't think I can do it properly but, who cares? I can take the insults if it means I am excused culinary duties.

Younger Daughter will arrive around one o'clock and we will see Elder Daughter and husband on Friday.

AND, just for the moment, IT'S NOT RAINING!!!

Have a good one, everybody!