Snow Lightly Falling

Woke up this morning to find the millpond solid and covered with snow.

Approximately a year ago, we had the lesbian plumbers replace our "broken" thermostat with a new, expensive, digital thermostat.

Their firm was also to work on replacing the motor to our central heating system.

At the beginning of the summer, as evidence of their travaux we received a HUGE bill for the work they had done fixing the system.

This winter, when we turned on the system, the thermostat didn't work . . . the house would heat up to an uncomfortably hot temperature, forcing us to trek out to the cold moulin to turn off the heater. Conversely, first thing on a cold morning we had to make the return trip to turn the system back on.

I called the plumbers to have them come out and check the system, but they wouldn't get back to me for a scheduled appointment. After about two weeks of their cat and mouse games, I went in person into their office in the village.

"Oh, we couldn't find a motor that would work for that system. But we're still looking."

Fast forward a few more months, to Tuesday when I called up the plumbers to come and fix a broken water pipe. The skinny male plumber was sent . . . obviously he's not a lesbian. He "fixed" the water pipe, and then to my astonishment, unprovoked, told me he'd return in two days to put the new motor on the heater!

This was going to be a momentous week.

He arrived yesterday, surprisingly early, at 8am . . .then took off quickly afterwards, leaving me with no heat at all.

I checked the thermostat thinking that perhaps, he had fixed the system and all I had to do was adjust it; but the thermostat wasn't displaying any information . . .it was dead. I went out to try and turn the heat on, only to find that he had left the light on in the mill and heater parts lying on top of the heater. I deduced that he wasn't finished and returned to the house to call his office to see if he was returning.

Yes, bien sur, he would be returning this afternoon, I was told by the younger lesbian.

I lit a fire in the fireplace, and turned the electric space heater on upstairs and in my office.

And return he did, around 3:30. He told me that he was called away to repair lots of broken water pipes; but that he wanted to make sure that I had heat for the night. He said he wouldn't be able to finish hooking up the thermostat until the next day, but I would have heat. I said I'd see him tomorrow when he would show me how to operate the thermostat. He left around 5:30.

I didn't have heat all night.

Neither did I have water, because an half-an-hour after the plumber left, I noticed that the pipe he had fixed three days ago had burst again and the water was pouring into the mill pond . . . in my mind's eye, I could see the rapidly spinning water usage counter whirling away our Euros into the bottmless accounts of the water company.

The skinny plumber returned this morning around 10am . . .didn't say a word about leaving me without heat last night. I made sure to tell him that I really suffered . . . and no water to boot!

I instructed him to just cut the burst pipe and end it somewhere where it wouldn't be exposed to the cold. It's not an essential pipe . . .it leads to a faucet in the room with only three walls where the women washed the laundry at the side of the canal. I hate to cut the water supply to that room off, because it is a quaint piece of history . . .but after three attempts at fixing it (one last year) I'm finished with it.

The plumber left at noon, telling me that I now have heat but that it isn't hooked up to the thermostat . . .he needs some sort of instructions which he claims he left on top of the heater last year. I looked and couldn't find it, and will have to wait for a reasonable hour to call the Husband who will only tell me that he didn't move any papers and that I should be able to find it . . .so now I'm back to square one . . .I have heat, but no way to regulate it.

After all these YEARS of struggle with our heater and our constant water problems . . .I'm ready to chuck everything and just strip the house back to it's original 1914 essentials . . . fireplaces, a water pump, a brick outhouse (which is quite pleasant), and candles for light.