Great Day Off!

Here is today's day off.

9 am. Went to the community group for disabled people that I support to try to find out why their finances have melted down. Two hours of staring at columns of numbers persuades me that I need more coffee. I think the group will probably survive.

11 am Quick trip to Vinnies to see what baby goods and electrical appliances they are donating to us this week. The haul includes a baby rocker, hair straightener number 200 ( they pair up well with all the discarded curling wands! What is it with women?), large crock pot and other goodies.

11.10 am Arrive home to find our long awaited lounge suite being delivered- another EBay purchase and a big upgrade on our previous model.

11.30 Quick trip to school to make sure preparations for HSC are in hand.

11.45 Remember that I need to bank the offerings from yesterday.

1 pm Lunch and nap. The nap is needed to make up for not sleeping well last night

1.30 Abandon nap as Alex who believes he is a caterpillar today is jumping all over me. Strangely Alex the caterpillar and Alex the kangaroo inflict similar bruises when they jump on my body.

Decide to try to fix leaking tap in laundry- BIG mistake. The tap is a combination one that has an outlet for the washing machine hose as well as the normal tap outlet.

2.00 Still trying to remove tap handle. Decide to visit hardware for advice. They say it should just slide off. Return home to spray tap with WD40

3.30 Having allowed plenty of time for WD40 to work its magic, I go back to it and discover that the tap handle can now be removed and the insides of the tap can be extracted. Rather than the normal tap washer, the washer is actually an O-ring that fits over a dome on the end of the tap. Hmmm- this is a bad time to discover that the job might be trickier than I first expected.

3.40 Back to hardware shop with hardware in hand. Hear the worst words you can hear in this situation: "I've never seen one like that before." Assistant searches plumbing section but is unable to find anything that looks like it might fit.

3.45. Go to plumbing supplies shop, ignoring sign that says "We don't sell retail plumbing supplies to general public." Plumber rummages through boxes and emerges with washer kit.

3.50-5.00. Wrestle little O-Ring to persuade it to fit over the dome... unsuccessful.

5.00 Ring plumber who lives out of town. The $2 job will now escalate to $200 but I'm desperate. Plumber doesn't need the money or the bother. Tells me that these washer kits are usually no good and it's easier to buy a new tap. Hardware shops are now closed but he tells me that as a temporary fix I can just get an ordinary tap spindle and stick that in so we can turn the water back on.

Great news, but we don't have an ordinary tap. But David Baxter, handyman extraordinaire has dozens. Luckily he's in town. I take my dismantled tap round to Dave's place. He can't just give me what I need because he's never seen a tap like this one either, so he spends an hour studying it to figure out how it works. Rummages through boxes and finds some bits. Shows me his vegetable garden and then offers to come around and install the temporary tap.

6.25 pm Return home. David turns up shortly afterwards. Installs temporary tap, then gets fascinated by the original tap and the repair kit. He decides that if we get the original tap working properly I won't have to buy a new one.

8 pm Finally satisfied original tap works properly, having tried it out about 50 times, turning mains off and on each time, David leaves and we have dinner.

For a day off, it's been very tiring and stressful. But I am thankful for the people in my life from friends like David who drops everything to help people get things fixed, to Alex the caterpillar/ kangaroo/ baby lamb, and even for the people who work for the disabilities group caring for very needy people in our town, and the long-suffering people at the hardware shop.