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the boiler...
I didn't go to work yesterday morning. I had to try and sort out our boiler. I phoned 25 plumbers and only one of them was prepared to come and look at it. Apparently plumbers like to take long, long holidays around this time of year. I am not surprised, really. The plumber who came to our house charged £75 per hour. He took one look at our boiler and decided that 1. "it's completely furred up, an' we don't defur boiler's, mate." 2. "where are the clasps, you know the clasps like they have on a tool box? It's a room sealed boiler, mate. Without the clasps it ain't sealed. It's dangerous, mate." The upshot of all of this is that he offered to replace the boiler for the bargain price of £2200. Even allowing for the robbery premium that we must pay because he knows that we couldn't get another plumber, this seemed a bit steep. I didn't tell him, but of course he knows. How else can you explain that he's the only plumber working at the moment. This must be a very lucrative time of year for him. He probably prefers to have long, long holidays in the summer. He eventually agreed to take £1800 if we paid him in cash.
Mrs McMuffin and I really struggled with this. I hate spending that kind of money without being able to shop around a little bit. We even debated whether we really needed to have a new boiler. Surely, we could manage with the little fan heater and strip washes until the new year when we could shop around? Of course, the other thing that really bothered me is that, by coincidence, the new G5 iMac cost £1800. A new boiler or a G5 iMac...mmmm?
Well, he's coming to fit the boiler this morning. From now on, our heating and hot water will just work. I'll miss the boiler wrangling days, when running a bath might take 45 minutes and you had to check on it constantly to make sure the flow of water was just strong enough to engage the boiler but not too strong or else the feeble boiler wouldn't be able to heat the water as it passed through. Mrs McMuffin became very skilled at this.
Oh, and I should just mention that our electric kettle has begun leaking water.
mr mcmuffin on 22 Dec 2004 @ 06:47 AM ✲ Permalink
Comments
Jesus, Mary and Joseph! 1800 quid for a iMac? You can get 3 very well specd PCs for that price. All the cute aesthetics in the world ain't gonna compensate for that price differential!
As for the boiler, reminds me why I live up North. Our new boiler was 800 quid fitted. The (fucking big) boiler at work was 1300 quid (just last month).
You've had your eyes taken out, sockets and all!
Posted by: Steve | 22 Dec 2004 12:55:09
Have you ever seen the film Brasil???
Posted by: jo | 22 Dec 2004 13:02:05
Your hot water will be worth more to you now than it was before. You'll be having diamond cuppas, emerald baths and golden showers from now onwards.
Posted by: David (TEFL Smiler) | 22 Dec 2004 13:56:18
Steve, what could we do? They had us over a barrel. Don't worry, We'll get them back by taking their children into care. Mrs McMuffin and I are planning a dawn swoop.
Jo, yes!
David, you don't deserve an answer!
Posted by: mr mcmuffin | 22 Dec 2004 14:44:44
golden showers whilst being taken over a barrel......you two want to watch what sort of site you're becoming.....
Posted by: single cookie | 22 Dec 2004 16:30:21
Are you talking about Apple, or the boiler people?
Posted by: Steve | 22 Dec 2004 17:04:26
F**k off you big red nose b*st*rd. (I heard this joke when I was a kid and I can only remember the punchline. I don't know, It just seems to fit.)
Posted by: mr mcmuffin | 22 Dec 2004 19:20:34
Suggest sexual perversity, and you just don't get an answer. (Well, sort of.)
Insult Apple, though, and the floodgates open. As it should be.
Posted by: David (TEFL Smiler) | 22 Dec 2004 20:31:09
The rest of the joke was Noddy saying "do you want to come out to play, Big Ears"...
BTW, is the pic the new boiler or the old one, or is it randomly lifted from the internet?
Posted by: Steve | 22 Dec 2004 21:06:23
That's a picture of the boiler that should have been. Bastards.
Posted by: mr mcmuffin | 22 Dec 2004 21:58:09
But it's so big and ugly, and has so many controls on view. You've had a lucky escape!
Posted by: Steve | 22 Dec 2004 22:32:15
I have to agree with Steve, you need a combination boiler in your airing cupboard. out of sight out of mind!
Posted by: Mrs Wembley | 23 Dec 2004 16:34:33
Dear Mr. McMuffin,
The boiler pictured is a Worcester Bosch 28 CDi and is the very boiler I have just had fitted in my kitchen. It is displayed in its full knob twiddling, switch throwing, dial gazing glory. Not hidden in a cupboard. It is a thing of beauty and only cost me 800 quid on Ebay. Fitting it was another 1200 quid but that was cheap. British Gas wanted about 3000 to fit their cheaper, nastier boiler.
£1800 for a Mac? Eeeeee...no thanks. I built my last PC myself and it kicks arse for about £300.
BTW here's a tip for form over function morons... I saw the latest Sony Bravia TV in Lausanne the other week. Its shit. Even a mediocre CRT has better definition. You can get the last of the 36" Trinitron widescreens 2nd hand for about £250 as against the Bravias six grand. I got two NIB 21" Sony Trinitron monitors recently from Ebay for £70 including shipping!!
BR,
Wilson.
Posted by: evildrome | 17 Oct 2006 20:42:33
