Monday monday.

I have many kind friends who try not to grimace when I announce that I am embarking on a bit of DIY.

Others are perhaps less so, the builder in charge of the house next door was quite unequivocal. When i told him i intended to do the plumbing myself, he said there was no way he was working his but off putting in new walls and ceilings for me to bring them down in deluges of water.

Didn't have much faith in me then....

Thinking about it the last bit of plumbing I did wasn't as bad as that, well not quite as bad as that, there wasn't the biblical inundation he described, well, not immediately, and no ceilings actually came down. there were a few damp walls the boiler was making funny noises for a while and the carpet took a bit of shampooing,  but it needed a clean anyway...

My wiring too is legendary, after I rewired my land rover one time a kind friend who was an auto electrician, having giving the job detailed examination declared; he had not seen anything like it in his entire career (what a compliment) what's more he said, he felt that the fact that lights came on when he operated switches meant they were being powered by the force, because there was no way it could involve wires and electricity.  I think that was a compliment...

Today the subject was "replacing the switch that blew shortly after the upstairs  bath I fitted last year collapsed filling it with water". Now switch replacing is not complex. Well OK in a bath room there are more possibilities since there are actually 3 wires in the switch.

With the lights out it was a bit dark in there and  anyway soon the wires were replaced and he power went back on much to the relief of the student who was working in the dining room with the lights on as the day was rather dull.

I switched on the power and walked back to the bath room to check. Nothing worked, that was odd. Back to the dining room which was in darkness. Reset the trip switch and back to the bathroom, still didn't work. Back to the dining room, the dark dining room.

Change of plan, must be moisture in the bulb holder dismantle the fitting and allow to dry, disconnect the power feed lead. Back to the dark dining room, switch on power, lights come on. Go to bathroom to check all is well, no noises or sparks, back to the dining room, the err dark dining room...

The student was looking at me, I would not say it was a hostile look but I did not detect any great admiration for my DIY skills either....

Back to the bathroom and remove all wires. walk to dining room and let there be light.

Coffee break.

Ok so maybe in the darkness I had mixed the connections up swapped two wires back to the dining room flick switch and kerflash instant disconnect. Become aware that student is tapping a pencil on the table, tell her brightly that it is very lucky we have trip switches as it would take lots longer to replace a fuse every time.

She does not look impressed, tapping continues.

Have another go, swap other wires round. Back to the dining  room yes yes, the dark dining room. Think it must be getting cold outside as there is a definite chill in the air.

Back to the bath room swap wires round again. Re set trip   and on go the lights in the dining room. All is well, and light too.

Walk back to bathroom pull switch; lights come on. no fizzing, popping, smoke, flames or tripping out,  walk back to the dining room, the light dining room. Try not to look smug,  content  or pleased with myself, student eyeing me doubtfully and glancing at the fuse board as if expecting it to explode off the wall in a ball of flame at any second.

But no all was well and she went back to writing an essay. I knew it was about social work law but she seemed to be looking up the defence of diminished responsibility in manslaughter. Looking at a list of grounds; hovering around defences starting with the letter D. She does some very odd research sometimes.....

R