Drip, drip, drip

Woken by a loud splashing sound at 2.30am this morning. Bucket overflowing. Emptied and replaced along with a load of old towels to catch the excess. Needless to say I didn’t go back to sleep for ages ‘cos I was fretting about whether the ceiling might come down, or the water would seep into the electrics & someone could electrocutes themselves etc. :o/

So having not slept properly left the comfort of my warm duvet, dragged the others from their pits, provided breakfast & packed lunches, scrapped the snow from the car then de-iced it, and set off…only to skid on a patch of black ice less than 50 metres from the house! Missed a parked car by 4” eeek! Car then completely stuck…no traction whatsoever!!! Kids tried pushing, no progress, went back to the house and got Strident Student to drag her wellies on over her PJs and come to help…still no movement. By this time we were of course providing entertainment to the entire road so a couple of neighbours came out and pushed..bless! We finally got to school at 9am which was when the GCSE Biology exam was due to start. Just hope Miss Sensible was not too stressed by the lastminute.com arrival.

Spent the rest of the day on the phone to the insurance company and seeing builders (none of whom could be described as 'hunky' (mores the pity) to get the requisite three quotes. I'm reliably informed that the lead flashing in the gully where the different aspects of the roof join is badly cracked hence the leak. They've cleared all the snow from the roof so the drip's stopped but the plaster on the landing ceiling is completely ruined. It’s nearly impossible to get to the roof easily due to having a Victorian house on a hill so they'll have to put up scaffolding to actually do the work. Course after the repair's done it'll need redecorating...

I was bemoaning the situation when a friend reminded me of my Scouse Scally background and suggested I get home and put any outdated electrical equipment and non fitting fashion items in the way of the leak stating this was an ideal insurance fraud tap-in. You know, any Ikea rug is a Persian original - be creative!!!

Went off to the hairdressers later and in a fit of wanting something different had it all chopped off. Don't think I'll be taking such drastic action again...

Will there be anything else….?