Blank screens and other things – Sat 4th June 2016

My blog has been neglected the last few days (sorry), we’ve had a bit of an emergency going on.

It all started Wednesday evening, about 10.30pm with a big “bang”, this was our circuit board going off.  Cue a call to the AA as we have Emergency Response, with a request that it be sorted overnight if possible as that would be easier on T and D.  A quiet wait until 1am when I had a phone call to say they couldn’t get hold of the call out person (hmmm) and to try again in the morning.

Fortunately we had one socket working downstairs (upstairs was okay, strangely) so it could have been worse but we didn’t have an engineer arrive until about 7pm, who then ummed, aaahed, made the circuits go “bang” a few more times and thought he’d fixed it.  Oh and accused us of tampering with the electrics because some brass rings looked newer than others.

It had gone off again by yesterday (Friday) morning.  

This is where the AA now let themselves down because they refused to come out again, saying that they couldn’t do anymore, that “poor installation” was too blame and that the whole system was b*ggered* (not their words) with the implication that we were at fault.  Nice eh?

So, another day of phone calls yesterday, not only to inform the AA that they wouldn’t have our business anymore but also to our home insurance emergency cover, who sent someone out last night at 7.30pm.

He arrived without any fuse wire, so we had to track some down from neighbors, stayed until 10pm, with plenty of swearing and annoyance that sockets weren’t immediately obvious and that I’d forgotten to mention one behind the washing machine.  It happens.  I thought they had blooming bleeping things that tracked circuits anyway.

The upshot is we have some power restored.  Still only the one socket in the kitchen, the others he’s turned off somewhere, along with one in the main room.  He neglected to mention that he’d done that last night, also that he’d found (we live near woods) evidence of rats chewing through cables, so that was an interesting phone call today.  And we’ve now been told to contact our buildings and contents insurer because it all needs re-wiring and replacing.

So, the fun goes on.  I’m not making further calls today or tomorrow, these last few days have been extremely hard on D who has phobia of blank screens (TVs, computers etc) and the thought of further strangers coming in and disrupting them, when it could (hopefully) be arranged for when they’re at school is preferable.  

Because I got a tad upset at my fridge and freezer contents and the thought of food going off, she also got worried.

I feel guilty that both T and D have had a rubbish end to their half term, that maybe other children will be “lalala, we had a brilliant time” and mine didn’t.

It could be worse.  That big “bang” could have started a fire, couldn’t it.  At least we have some power.  Our gas cooker won’t ignite as that relies on electricity.  At least we have hot water.  And each other.

I don’t like to moan but these companies (AA, I’m glaring at you now) are quick enough to take your money and say they’re provide a 24/7 call out to rectify issues, but they don’t.

Smirnoff Ice anyone? 

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