Yesterday was stressful for me- our old car went for an MOT (UK annual roadworthy test).
I waited nervously for an hour and then the guy on reception delivered the bad news: welding required near seat belt anchor point and both headlamp lenses misty.
'How much?" I asked.
"Headlights £240UK each and the welding around £60UK."
As the car is only worth around £500UK at the most (but worth a lot more to me, like £10K UK for a replacement). I was not too happy.
Anyway, I went to see the mechanic who did the MOT and who I know.
When I asked him about the problems with the car he said, "It is only a small bit of rust and we can normally polish the light lenses with Brasso, we do it all the time- take about two hours, so say £80"
I was so pleased that I celebrated with a hot-dog from the hamburger van across the road.
When I arrived home, Joan, the lady next door, rushed out looking very concerned- she is getting on a bit and lives by her self, and I am her Mr fix-it.
"My electrics have gone in the house and I cant even use the gas cooker because it wont light!"
I said I would come over and have a look.
Sure enough there was no power at the wall sockets but the lights were still OK.
I asked her when had the electricity failed. She gave me a long story about cooking breakfast, making toast, and not being able to turn the TV on. She said, " I can't understand it- the microwave oven would not work and I can't really afford a new one, besides it was not that old. "
I asked her if she could describe exactly what she was doing when the electricity failed, but that added more confusion. She then gave me a few useful tips as to what the fault could be. And also said that she was going on a walk with the members of her church and she needed to prepare the route.
In the fuse box all the mains socket trips had thrown so I unplugged all appliances and reset the trips one by one and checked the power at the sockets- no problem.
I then went to find Joan and ask her how to operate the microwave oven- I had to do a bit of figuring out after her description and when I turned the power to minimum she said that at that setting I would not be able to cook anything and promptly turned the dial back up to full again.
I locked the microwave door and set the timer- the oven light came on and after a minute there was a ping and the light went off.
Joan was overjoyed and asked what I had done to fix the microwave oven.
All the other appliances worked OK, but I was suspicious of the kettle so I didn't plug that in. Sure enough, although the kettle was immaculate, the mains connector at the base of the handle was charred.
So I told Joan that she needed a new kettle, but everything else was OK. She was over the moon, and said that she had just the kettle in mind.
I asked her how old the faulty kettle was, She said that her father had bought two kettles because they were on special offer- I think her father passed at least 20 years ago!
Joan then disappeared again and returned with a huge box of chocolate biscuits for me. I politely declined.
It turns out that breakfast had been going well, but when she plugged the kettle in, the kitchen socket power failed. As Joan had not had her early morning cup of tea she plugged the kettle into a lounge socket and blew that trip. Then she tried one of the bedroom sockets.
So hence the title of this post, what is a catastrophe for one person is all in a day's work for someone else.
Have you had similar experiences.
I have had many.
spec
I waited nervously for an hour and then the guy on reception delivered the bad news: welding required near seat belt anchor point and both headlamp lenses misty.
'How much?" I asked.
"Headlights £240UK each and the welding around £60UK."
As the car is only worth around £500UK at the most (but worth a lot more to me, like £10K UK for a replacement). I was not too happy.
Anyway, I went to see the mechanic who did the MOT and who I know.
When I asked him about the problems with the car he said, "It is only a small bit of rust and we can normally polish the light lenses with Brasso, we do it all the time- take about two hours, so say £80"
I was so pleased that I celebrated with a hot-dog from the hamburger van across the road.
When I arrived home, Joan, the lady next door, rushed out looking very concerned- she is getting on a bit and lives by her self, and I am her Mr fix-it.
"My electrics have gone in the house and I cant even use the gas cooker because it wont light!"
I said I would come over and have a look.
Sure enough there was no power at the wall sockets but the lights were still OK.
I asked her when had the electricity failed. She gave me a long story about cooking breakfast, making toast, and not being able to turn the TV on. She said, " I can't understand it- the microwave oven would not work and I can't really afford a new one, besides it was not that old. "
I asked her if she could describe exactly what she was doing when the electricity failed, but that added more confusion. She then gave me a few useful tips as to what the fault could be. And also said that she was going on a walk with the members of her church and she needed to prepare the route.
In the fuse box all the mains socket trips had thrown so I unplugged all appliances and reset the trips one by one and checked the power at the sockets- no problem.
I then went to find Joan and ask her how to operate the microwave oven- I had to do a bit of figuring out after her description and when I turned the power to minimum she said that at that setting I would not be able to cook anything and promptly turned the dial back up to full again.
I locked the microwave door and set the timer- the oven light came on and after a minute there was a ping and the light went off.
Joan was overjoyed and asked what I had done to fix the microwave oven.
All the other appliances worked OK, but I was suspicious of the kettle so I didn't plug that in. Sure enough, although the kettle was immaculate, the mains connector at the base of the handle was charred.
So I told Joan that she needed a new kettle, but everything else was OK. She was over the moon, and said that she had just the kettle in mind.
I asked her how old the faulty kettle was, She said that her father had bought two kettles because they were on special offer- I think her father passed at least 20 years ago!
Joan then disappeared again and returned with a huge box of chocolate biscuits for me. I politely declined.
It turns out that breakfast had been going well, but when she plugged the kettle in, the kitchen socket power failed. As Joan had not had her early morning cup of tea she plugged the kettle into a lounge socket and blew that trip. Then she tried one of the bedroom sockets.
So hence the title of this post, what is a catastrophe for one person is all in a day's work for someone else.
Have you had similar experiences.
I have had many.
spec
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