Boiler fun

Aside from the high drama of being made redundant, getting the bends and planning a cross continent mundane matters still happen.

The central heating conked out last Sunday, although it's been unwell for a good couple of years. It's actually a combi boiler, a good ten or fifteen years old, and the hot water part is fine, just seems the pump for the central heating is gone. I tried ringing a guy I've used once before, who I'd stored on my phone as "Gasmark". Obviously I assumed the chaps name was Mark on the grounds that I've obviously stored the name like that to remember the guys name and trade. I mean, where do you think a lot of our surnames come from? Well, turns out I was wrong this time and when some lady answered the phone and I asked for Mark she was a bit bemused and told me I must have a wrong number. When I hang up I remembered that Gasmark was actually the name of the company and the guys name was actually Andy. In typical British fashion I was a bit too embarrassed to ring back so I set out to get another plumber.

I'd originally found Andy when the boiler had packed up in May, from the Ratedpeople website. Whilst this sounds like some dubious social networking application one might find on Facebook or Bebo it's actually quite a good way to get quotes for work you need done like, er, fixing a boiler. You put a brief description of the work you want doing ("Central heating pump not working"), more details ("Valliant combi boiler, hot water working but central heating not coming on") and the price range ("Not sure"). The website then contacts up to three tradesmen, passes them your details including your phone number and they get in touch with you.

I posted the job on the website but only got one response in two hours and as I was a little desperate to get it sorted I rang them: no call out fee, just the cost of the parts and labour to fit the costs which sounded OK. They turned up at about 1pm, Mr Plumber himself (I never got his name) and his apprentice. They quickly got down to work... well, they took the front off and asked if I had the manual, which I did. They got me to turn the heating on and off a couple of times and ran through a flow chart in the manual at which point they rang Valliant tech support to get them to tell them which specific tests to run and consequently which parts to order. Hmmm. Unfortunately Valliant tech support aren't good at answering the phone so we were on hold on speakerphone and we had to wait. And wait. And wait. Forty minutes later we're still waiting although Mr Plumber has fixed one of my radiators (good) and found three leaks from the boiler (very bad). It was around then that M's "Pop Muzik" came on as hold music for the third time and whilst it's a fine piece of early 80s pop fluff it was at this point we all just about gave up the ghost.

Mr Plumber intimated that it could be one of two things and either way we were looking at in the region of £250 for parts and labour. Given the leaks as well we were up to £500+ and I'd be better off getting a new boiler for £1000 all in. He had a point, he really did, the boiler's been on it's last legs for a while. He left me a brochure and told me to ring him that evening or the next morning to get it fitted by the end of the week.

Now, while I couldn't disagree with Mr Plumber's verdict I've got to say I wasn't enthused about either his ability or his lacklustre tool kit. I ended up ringing Andy from Gasmark about doing the job and we talked it through on the phone: £550 for a new Ravenheat condensing combi boiler, £400 to fit for £950 total. Sweet! One drawback, he needed the £550 upfront in readies to actually go and buy the boiler...

He dropped round in the evening to pick the cash up when he was the way back from another job and assured me I would see him again with boiler. While on that flying visit he took a quick look at the boiler and diagnosed the actual problem (diverter valve) in less than 5 minutes whilst providing a temporary quick fix. Now, you see, that's what I want from a trades person. Solid actual knowledge, expertise, know how, not referring to the bloody manual then ringing tech support!

He did turn up with the new unit (phew) which is there in the front room now waiting to get fitted, just in time for next weeks predicted cold snap. OK, so I'm the best part of a grand down but with any luck I'll be warm this winter and if we do rent the house out got a working unit with a three year parts and labour guarantee. Result.

One green light

Since the last post I've chatted further with Helen regarding the whole her living with her mum and earning money to go travelling while I swan off on a bike. And she's basically good with it although a bit unhappy that I'll be on my own, which is fair enough. She did point out it was a bit over the top if I was planning to dump her, which once again is fair enough. One "minor" problem is that her business went pretty badly this summer so she's starting off from the position of being in debt.

So, next stage is get dealing with the house rolling, either rented or (less likely) sold. Either way I've got a list as long as your arm (provided I adjust the font size) of stuff to sort out. External paintwork, hedge, internal paintwork, boiler, etc etc etc.

On a slightly more positive note, I've started to do some basic route planning. Simplest way is cycle over to Hull (95 miles) and get a ferry to Holland. From there it's 5300 cycling miles to the Indian border, give or take. I make that slightly more that 200 miles a week over 26 weeks, which is doable. I'm planning on refining a Google Maps route plan over the coming weeks all the better to ignore it if/ when I get going. I've also been looking at other peoples blogs such as Blazing Saddles which I particularly like , which has made me think, do I want to continue using Blogger or set up a dedicated website? Ah well, still got some time to ponder!

Job? What job?

Been interesting times of late and I'm very overdue on a blog update.

As a starting point my left hand is taking longer to heal than I like. It is palpably on the mend but it seems to be a slooooow process at the moment. Realised two or three weeks ago that I wasn't really going to be ready for diving in Mull on the 3rd and 4th of October which sent me into something of a funk. It was at this point I finally decided to book a holiday. This was something I'd been loathe to do in the current work atmosphere as I've had the feeling that the game was up at Sony Ericsson for some time now, but the prospect of my arm not recovering really depressed me so, combined with Helen being washed out after the festivals, I went for it. Alas, the fact that XL had just gone titsup didn't help matters when it came to finding cheap flights so in the end went for a deal to Malaga.

We were due to fly on Thursday the 26th of September. On the Tuesday night Helen realised her passport had expired some three weeks earlier. On getting in touch with the passport office it transpired that all the one day passport renewal appointments for the next day were booked which meant I had to rebook the flights to leave on the Sunday. On the work front, on the Friday afternoon emails were circulated calling two "all hands" meetings for the following Monday, one for permies, one for contractors. This immediately set alarm bells ringing, which then went off like an explosion in a bell tower when my managers manager, Fay, said that I really should try and make it in the meeting. I spoke to Dave, my line manager, before I went on the Friday, asking him to contact me only if we were being shut down straight away and if I wouldn't be needed in the office on the understanding that I'd probably spend another couple of weeks in Spain, possibly Morocco, before setting off overland for home.

In the end I got a call from Dave on the Monday afternoon whilst sitting at an outdoor cafe in Granada supping a beer. The news was not brilliant with the entire Manchester site to be shut down from the 31st of March next year and some OK-ish redundancy terms were on offer. Dave had rung me because he didn't want me to find out from the media although I suspect the banking crisis kind of blew away the news about SE anyway.

So, yes. Come March the 31st I'm out of a job. Luckily there is a retention bonus on offer, so IF I can get the house sorted and rented out then it looks like cycling to India is on the cards. Other factor is, of course, Helen. If this plan is a go then she'll be staying behind to earn the money to go travelling whilst I do the journey to India on my own which could be complex as in if we have to rent the house out for this period where will she live? Will she actually join me in my travels at all? Ah well, just have to see what transpires.