Friday and freezing

Well, the engineer came on Tuesday and said "Hmmm .. water pressure problem". He fiddled about inside the boiler for a few minutes and all seemed to be well. Slowly the house (and I) began to warm up. By the time it was warm enough to stick my head under a tap, it was also a bit late, so I decided to leave the hair-washing until Wednesday morning. Bad idea. Woke up on Wednesday and lo and behold -the boiler had broken down again overnight. Phoned the engineers and was told that the first available time they could come out again would be Thursday, and sorry, they couldn't give "timed" appointments - one of us would have to wait in all day (and take a day off from work in order to do so).

So off I went to work on Wednesday. Had to travel down to Maidstone for a meeting - what is it with Maidstone? I stood at the bus stop (in snow) for a number 82 for 35 minutes, then finally had to give up and get a taxi. Coming back from the meeting, I spotted a bus sitting at the stop outside the building. Got on, asked how much the fare was to the station, paid my fare, asked to be told when I needed to get off, then was told by the driver that he wouldn't be moving from the stop for 20 minutes. He told me there would be two more buses arriving (and leaving again) within that 20 minutes, but no, he was sorry, I wouldn't be able to transfer my ticket as the other buses were a different route number. Finally, we got going. The bus took a different route from the taxi, but I wasn't surprised by this. What did surprise me was that we crossed over a river. My taxi to the meeting hadn't crossed a river . I asked the bus driver once again to tell me where I needed to get off for the station, only to be told "We passed the station a long way back on the other side of the river. You should have got off then." When I protested that I hadn't seen the station, he said "Well of course, it's around the back of the one-way system." When I explained that I wasn't local to Maidstone, and that my asking to be told when to get off the bus indicated that I didn't KNOW where to get off, he just shrugged and said "You didn't tell me you didn't know the area".

I bit back the caustic comments I could have made and crossed the road to catch another bus back across the river. Whilst waiting to cross the road, I witnessed what I can only describe as sexual bullying. A group of young teens in school uniform were waiting to cross the road when an older boy ran up, grabbed one of the younger boys' trousers and yanked them right down to the ground, then ran off. This was shocking. It was a main street, in full view of the public, and (probably more importantly to this young man) in full view of his group of school friends, which included two or three girls. There had been a Panorama programme on TV on Monday of this week which investigated sexual bullying in schools. Coincidences are strange.

The only good thing about Maidstone buses is that the fares are cheap. My two bus journeys in Maidstone came to less than one single journey would have cost back in London. London bus fares may be higher, but nearly every bus now has a "speaking route" where a voice tells you which stop the bus is approaching. Bus stops all also have their location writ large upon them. It's hard to get lost on a London bus. Easy to get lost on a Maidstone bus.

On a day of huge problems on the railway network, the four trains I had to take on Wednesday were all on time, all warm, and I was able to get a seat on every one. Remarkable. I got home and wrapped myself up in the duvet to keep warm.

On Thursday, I couldn't take time off work for the boiler engineers as I had an important meeting scheduled, so Bex had to take a day's leave. The engineer came and did some more fiddling inside the boiler and got it working. The house gradually warmed up again. In the meantime, I got to work and checked my voicemail, to find a message from the person I was supposed to be meeting, cancelling because of ... wait for it.. boiler problems! Another coincidence?

So it's Friday morning now and guess what? Yes - the boiler has broken down again. A new pump is on order, but it is unlikely to be ready for fitting until next week. In the meantime, we will have no heating and no hot water for a second weekend, and most likely into the middle of next week. I'll have to bite the bullet and stick my head under the cold tap.