Drips and Drabs

Sometimes it is nice to have an afternoon off, to do the things that you like to do, like shop, or have your hair done.

Then there are utility days off in which you have arranged for a repair man to visit.

Utility days can have varying degree's of success.

Like today, for example. Tutz was watching MTV Base on Sunday when all of a sudden the images of Rap stars and women with madly gyrating backsides disappeared, to be replaced by the words 'NTL Home'.

Fing, who was on the Internet at the time looking at home furnishings, also lost the use of the Broadband and was enourmously peeved having just found a lovely line in voile drapes.

We called the engineers and they actually arrived (Not always guaranteed). For once, NTL was speedy, prompt and efficient, They replaced some small box and normality was restored.

Unfortunately today was also the day that we were due for our annual gas service, and an extremely large engineer, facially resembling Jabba the Hutt, arrived with portents of doom.

'Bit of a major leak in there', he advised, 'in my opinion, probably stemming from a waste pipe'

Fing nodded sagely from his perch on top of the radiator cover, where he was beautifully positioned to observe the fat engineer and also to toss diced pieces of cheese into the kitchen to keep Trotter happy behind the security gate.

And so a further repair man had to be summoned from the council.

Whereas the last engineer was large and slug like, the new one was thin and edgy with wildly darting eyes like a chameleon on speed and a shock of thick, bushy, orange hair. When Fing opened the door and the engineer stepped in the house, as one the other pets took a step backwards as if they might find safety underneath the stairs.

The plumber engineer darted upstairs with his erratic eyes and announced immediately that all of our problems were due to a leaking tap. That we should, under no circumstances, use the shower attachment, that he would raise a call that would result in our taps being replaced, the bath sealed and the drip resolved.

Then almost as soon as he was here he was gone, taking his eyes with him, thank god.

And so our utility day is over, the pets have assumed their normal positions, except Trotter, who is high on cheese from spending the majority of the afternoon in the kitchen being fed the best part of a packet to placate him from all the comings and goings and high visibility jackets.