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 ...