I am pretty reasonable at decorating, painting, wall papering etc. And I usually don’t object to getting on with it providing I am given the time and space to get on with it. Plumbing and electrics however are not my thing, and I have a back catalogue of various misdemeanours which involving fusing the house lights and flooding the airing cupboard.

So, when the shower pump packed up recently Trish said we would find someone to sort it out. Which in veiled terms meant ‘don’t do it yourself’.

A few attempts at various plumbers ended up with promises of visits in the next millenium due to how busy they were. So, the job remained outstanding. And with a German exchange student arriving next week it was going to be inconvenient with the shower not working in the main bathroom. I had suggested to Trish that the actual replacement itself should be pretty straightforward. But I was told to leave it alone.

Today Trish went out to do a day’s coaching. What a nice surprise I thought if I get it done whilst she was out. So, after disconnecting the electric to the pump, and after turning off the feeds and draining as best I could 3 of the 4 pipes to the pump with little or no spillage, I proceeded to the 4 one, and ‘whoops’ the pipe came off, and oh my goodness I hadn’t closed the feed fully. Fortunately I did have a ‘just in case’ bucket handy, and managed to capture the torrent of hot water and almost close the feed without too much water flooding everywhere. But the carpet and the floor were reasonably sodden. I then noticed that in closing the feed fully I had loosened the joint on the pipe it was attached to, which was now seeping water. Aaaaagh. So I turned off the water mains and drained the tank so that things weren’t leaking everywhere. I then did what any failed DIY person does on a Sunday. I called out a plumber….

I called a bloke who advertised in the local parish magazine. He was brilliant, came out, corrected the leaking joint, fitted the new pump, and charged very reasonably.

Trish came home. The devatstation had been cleaned away, in fact I was cooking the Sunday roast. But I had to come clean and tell Trish all. She is pleased the shower pump is fixed. But I have had to make a promise to never, ever, attempt plumbing again. A bit like my promise never to eat Shreddies again. But that’s a story for another day.