Poor day that commenced with an argument with Diana over Christmas arrangements, continued with a water leak crisis and then finished with news of the murderous Palestinian attacks on the Israeli airline check-in desks
Slow to get to sleep last night as Diana & I argue over the failure of our Christmas Day reception for her family. I apologise for offending them, but point out that it was not all my fault; the dining room proved too crowded and unsuitable for the children, and the guests lacked an appetite for the food that Di had devotedly prepared. Then slept poorly anyway, before waking to my morning tea. Still very windy and increasingly cold as the day wore on. The floodwater had receded slightly, however, and after breakfast and showering, I was able to walk on the plot and feed the doves. Joan and Pete were working today and Pete fed the ducks for me and then spent much of the day cleaning my Jaguar, which had not had a good clean in a long time. I started work on the link corridor floorboards, planning to raise sufficient of them to be able to wire a heat detector onto the kitchen ceiling. Imagine my surprise when unscrewing a doorstop so as to remove a carpet, when I found warm water gushing up at me in a fountain!
When previously fixed, the securing screw had both punctured the hot water pipe to the utility room and sealed it, so that when it was removed the leak remained. I turned off both the main water inlet and the hot water in the airing cupboard and then opened the taps to drain the hot water system. With Joan’s help I staunched the flow and limited the damage in the meantime by parting the floorboards with a circular saw and then mopping up the puddles that had formed between the joists. After several attempts at soldering the gap, I eventually managed to do it by using a brass screw to seal the hole mechanically and then soldering that onto the pipe. Luckily I had a blow lamp and camp gas cylinder in the shed and, even more luckily, it still worked after 5/10 years storage! Panic over, I spent the rest of the morning completing my task of raising the floorboards, by cutting them into smaller shapes with the circular saw and supporting them underneath with battens nailed to the joists. Daniel had Steve with him for the day and we had lunch together before I continued my toils. This time I had to position and fix the heat detector (easy) and then find a route for the cable back to the main alarm site (not so easy). In the end I compromised between running it under and over the floorboards, as the link room floorboards were too big and interlocked to remove without a lot of damage. By tea time the fire alarm connected and the evening clearing up and planning the next stage of my alarm – the exit/entry circuit. News tonight of Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist attacks against El Al check in desks and surroundings at two European airports. In almost ‘kamikaze’ style, they rolled grenades around the floors, indiscriminately shot officials and passengers and then had gun battles with airport security police. The attacks only ended when they were either killed or seriously injured. Glad to be inside tonight on a cold and miserable night, but at least fire hazards would be soon detected!