A month ago I was writing about our central heating, how it had packed up and how I had fixed it with a bit of Internet research and a hammer. Of course I hadn't really. Ian Hosegood, the engineer from Shepton Mallet, checked it out and blamed the 'three-way valve'; he promised to order a new one.
So that was two weeks ago (Weds Sept 23rd). Plainly his very presence had a salutary effect, for the central heating has since behaved itself: until last night. In fix-it mode, I went upstairs to the boiler cupboard and tapped the three-way valve with a kind of insistent thoroughness. Naturally this had no effect at all .. but this morning, the heating is working as normal. Go figure.
Last Friday we went for a stroll ('the last day of summer') in the Priddy Mineries, close by us on the top of the Mendips. As we returned to the house, Clare said, "My window won't shut." Indeed, the front passenger window had jammed half-open.
The car was booked into the garage for this morning. I climbed into the driver's seat, turned on the engine and tested the window. No problem, it was up and down like a yoyo.
The last time this happened (some years ago) I did get as far as the garage where the technician had no problem making the errant window work. "Could you have inadvertently pressed the childproof lock?" he asked with a commendably straight face.
Naturally I vehemently denied it, citing a 'transient fault'.
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Matt Ridley, in a Times opinion piece yesterday, suggested that the latest research on telomere extension would mean we were all going to live for ever. Today, in The Times, there is an article explaining that we will all continue working to 100.
You know, sometimes, death seems a very attractive prospect.
