The Saga of the Broken Boiler continues.  I have now had 3 different repairmen on 4 different occasions staring at my boiler. They know what the problem is, they just don't know how to get to it. They've fixed me up "temporarily" so at least I'm not cold, and neither will I die of carbon monoxide poisoning (considering the temperatures outside, I ( Read more... )

As it turns out, the central heating repairman who was here last Wednesday didn't fix my boiler as well as he - and I - thought he did. Quite the contrary, in fact.

In the process of rewiring the boiler, he came across an apparently pointless bit of electric wire disappearing into the wall. He cut it off, some time later my boiler worked, I got warm ( Read more... )

I called the repairman for my broken heater, and he could come nearly right away.  Normally, I have my day off on Thursday, so I called work and said I'd swap - stay home today, come in tomorrow. Boss D tried to object, but I just cut in saying "look, it's not going to matter whether I stay home today or tomorrow, it's 14 degrees Celcius in my ( Read more... )

A few things happened during (and partly causing) my prolonged absence, so I thought I'd provide a quick update!

( Short update on Why I Broke Up With Boyfriend R... )

When I looked out the window this morning, there was even more snow. I can't remember having seen this much snow in my life - not counting trips to Norway and such. So I felt it coming... and indeed:

I spent 2.5 hours on public transport this morning to end up where I started from: home.

* fail *

( Read more... )

A picture frame fell from a cupboard shelf onto my foot this morning. Scattering shards of glass all over your study at 6.15 am is not the best start to anyone's day, I imagine. I'm only lucky I didn't get cut (just a scratch on my hand).

Then I stepped outside and it started raining just as I got on my bike. And when I got to the station, a ( Read more... )

As a subject of the Netherlands, I'm regularly exposed to pulp television channels like RTL4 and SBS6 (just insert YLCN, a.k.a. Your Local Crap Network here, if you don't know them). By way of antidote, I love the BBC. However, the announcement of "the fascinating history of women in horticulture" on BBC2 had me diving for the remote just now. I ( Read more... )

From fenjer :

I got 5 surprise questions to answer. Do you want 5 questions as well? Comment "surprise" and I'll give you five!

1. Would you ever swim with sharks?Although I don't particularly love sharks, I have no particular fear for them, either. I think they're rather fascinating. So, given the chance and under professional supervision, yes, I ( Read more... )

Corrected 60-something exams today ( Read more... )

Well, that was a bit of a hiatus due to attacks of

** omfg I'm too busy at home too busy at work winter depression is hitting I just want to stay in bed.**
Of course, I didn't. Stay in bed, I mean ( Read more... )