Even more frustration: The conclusion

We have a new water pump that seems to be working correctly now. It is a ShurFlo Junior with a shut off setting of 2bar. Hopefully all will be well for the full three years of the warranty.

We have received refunds for the mis-sold pressure switch assembly and the malfunctioning ShurFlo 3.0 pump.

Even better!

Glenmorangie Single Malt

A Winner

I had a terribly difficult hour on the phone to Lloyds TSB. All I wanted to do was report a lost chequebook. By the end of it I was frazzled and unrecognised by the automatic voice recognition system and the operator who asked for details of a payment into my account that morning and then could not understand that Electricité de France was EdF. Failing to provide an accurate amount of the cost of four theatre tickets purchased by debit card five days previously froze up the system for security reasons. Representation to a supervisor bore no fruit and they had the cheek to send me a request to appear before a bank employee in person with my passport in hand to prove who I was. After being a customer for 27 years!

The letter I sent them resulted in the bottle of whisky that arrived this morning. The card says "We want to say sorry".

Well, that's all right then.

Wintery Thoughts

I sent a day on the boat this week. I sat in front of a warming stove and read some of The Famished Road, Booker Prize winning fiction, (but found it hard going) as I waited for 'Dusty' our trusty coal diesel and gas boatman to arive. Having been just south of Banbury the evening before it didn't take him too long to work his way up to the moorings on the north side of town to fill my empty tank with diesel and put some coal aboard. I paid cash. 'Dusty' likes cash. (He says he takes cash or cheques and if either fail he introduces 'PayPal", a pick axe handle with the words 'Pay Pall!' inscribed on the blunt end.)

By lunch time all our business was complete and we had 'put the world to rights'. It was time for me to check the boat over and shut it up. The gas water heater is drained, the new water pump switched off and the the taps left open to reduce damage if the temperature gets to low this winter. Then empty the veg bin and the fridge and leave SONFLOWER on her own.

I left the novel on the boat.

The frost on the ground reminded me that it is indeed December and wintery now after the second warmest November in the last 100 years.

Just the winter engine service to complete and we are ready to roll for the New Year.