Project 366 : Photo diary week 41

 Let's start with the positive, and it's a big positive luckily ! This time next week, we're heading into a two week holiday - phewee ! I certainly need a break - figuratively (I'm knackered !) and literally (I have so many jobs around the house that need doing but just no time to do them). Just five more days of school/work to get through - we can do this ! 

Sunday 4th October - As is usual on a Sunday, we had lunch, I emptied the clothes from the drier on to my bed to fold them, then threw the clothes from the washing machine into the drier. I glanced at the big pile of laundry then decided to clear my marking first, and settled down under the quilt with a pile of tests. Halfway through my marking, Juliette came in to see me and said that it was cold. I went to check the thermostat and it was showing the fan symbol spinning around and the temperature on 18.5°. I know it's normally at 21° so I headed back down to the boiler for a look. The man from the heating/plumbing company had only called on Wednesday and showed me how to fill it up, but the water level had dropped back to the equivalent of 8 on a clock when it should be at 10. Luckily, he'd showed me how to fill it up so, even if it shouldn't have happened, I was pretty confident about topping up the level then dealing with it properly when they come to do the boiler check next month. I topped up the level to 10 then twisted the knob back to stop the water. It carried on rising ! It got to the equivalent of 12 ... 1 ... 2 ... the maximum level is 4 so by now, I was panicking, switched it all off and rushed off to get the neighbour. He said that the level does keep rising once you've turned it off, you have to turn it off before it gets to the level you want, he'd finish his dinner then come over and help out. Reassured, I went back home and started drawing buckets of water from the radiators to drop the level. He popped over and laughed at us because it would take ages doing it our way, there was a special release knob on the boiler to let the water out quickly. He twisted it and looked confused - a quick glug of water came out then stopped and the knob just twisted round, without ever sealing off. He came upstairs to help draw water off the radiators and, about twenty buckets in, looked confused when the water level hadn't dropped at all. OK, time to give up and call in the experts again ! By now, it was late afternoon and I still had to finish my marking, deal with the laundry and sort out our weekly phonecall with my mum and dad ! *sigh*

Monday - Just the morning at work, then I dashed home and got straight on the phone to the boiler people. I explained the problem and luckily, she found someone to come over and sort us out - phew ! The guy looked at the boiler, looked a bit confused but managed to draw water off the radiators and get the water level back down. Yippee ! He said I'd need to vent the radiators - all of them, not just a few - and I explained that over half of our radiators have the little wheels totally stuck. He went round, pulling off all the twisty temperature controls ("you don't need them if you have a thermostat - it's pointless as they're working against each other" - ummm maybe, sounds logical, but they've been on there for over twenty years since we moved in ! He also said our boiler is illegal, too old, needs replacing, should have been written off years ago - I said OK, but pointed out that every year, when someone from his company comes for the annual boiler visit, they say it's fine ! He looked confused at that too !). Anyway, he bashed things with a spanner, pressed on secret knobs and managed to get all the radiators vented and working - woohoo ! Time for a tasty chicken chasseur to celebrate !

Tuesday - A full day at work. Got home and thought it felt a bit cold. The temperature had dropped back down to 17.5° (from 21°). Strange ! Went back down to the garage to check the boiler. The water level had dropped back to 8 ! Noooo ! However hard I tried, I could not manage to get it to go back up. Too tired tonight - I'll have a proper look tomorrow on my afternoon off. Went round venting the radiators, just in case that helps. Loads of air coming out but it made no difference. Managed to snap off another twisty bit as it was stuck - aaagghhh ! Luckily, it doesn't feel too cold around the house - I think we've got used to 18/19° (which is what it sticks at luckily) but we have no hot water either ! :-/

Wednesday - Just the morning at school, then home again. Time to do battle with the heating ! First of all, I had a meeting at the town hall with Pierre to renew his ID card. Didn't take too long luckily. Back home, playing around with the boiler. Got it to start heating up again (yay !) but then it stopped again (boo !). I can't keep calling them out ! I have an appointment in November for the boiler check so I may just hang on until then. It's starting to look decidedly autumnal so I just hope it stays relatively warmish for now.

Thursday - A full day at work but I have a long lunch break so I pop home to see the kids. Luckily, still not too cold in the house. I do miss hot water though ! Tempted to go swimming just to use their showers ! (Not even sure if the pools are open right now though, with Covid !) I flicked through the junk mail and was about to throw away the card from Sephora, wishing me a happy birthday, when I noticed it's offering me €30 shopping for free ! Well, I know two people who will love to spend that fortunately ! (Glances at Sophie and Juliette ! lol)

Friday - I only have one hour's lesson in the morning and all my afternoon lessons were cancelled as I had to go to a meeting about the Critical Thinking project with Norway (and now also Spain and the UK). We had a video meeting with the Norwegian researcher then discussed all our lesson plans. The sky looked very ominous tonight but we never got the storm I expected from looking at the clouds.

Saturday - Time for our usual Saturday morning parent-teacher meetings for the 11-year-olds. Due to Covid restrictions though, two classes were done at a time in separate rooms, the teachers sat in a line and the parents came in one at a time to be dealt with collectively. It was like a job interview and probably quite daunting for the parents, but it did get us through it all with minimum contact. From 8-10am we saw one class, then from 10-12, it was the second class in a separate room. Met up with the kids at McDonald's, then Juliette wanted to go to the cemetery so we called into the supermarket on the way to buy some plants. Watered the plants, moved things around on the stone (it's quite high up - the coffin isn't buried in the ground as in England, it's slotted into a gap under the headstone and flat area) then, as Juliette was jumping down, her phone fell out of her pocket, landed face down and completely smashed the screen. She was gutted - she only bought her new phone a few weeks ago - so I said we'd go into town for a replacement screen. An hour later (and €100 lighter of pocket - eeeek !), it was all fixed. Back home, then time to go shopping at Lidl. I don't know if it was the unusual early start for a Saturday or the fact that I hadn't bloody stopped all day long, but I was knackered ! A quick walk with the dog then I fell asleep in front of the telly !

Fingers crossed my final week at school is more chilled out ! I already know I have Pierre's parent-teacher evening and Juliette's orthodontist appointment to look forward to though. *sigh*

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