Following on from March is maintenance month, where I left you wondering if our new loo would arrive (or maybe not, but just to remind you where I left you last time) Well, I´m happy to report it arrived, and it is lovely (now).
Anyone whose partner has ever done a “DIY” job whilst they are in the vicinity will understand.
I went out for a couple of hours, it was anticipated to be a “quick” job, I came back, I found an empty tool bag, tools all over the floor, Skipper crouched in the WC head over the loo. Now at this point what can one do ??
- Retreat without announcing your return (a good option, however, there´s a dog involved here who needs to be checked on)
- Announce your return and politely ask how it´s going (you know it´s not going to be a good or repeatable answer but you ask anyway)
- Announce your return and offer to go and do some essential shopping
I went for option 3 and headed out to the shop as quickly as I politely could. I did the weekend´s shopping and queued up for ages because the next day was a local bank holiday (unbeknownst to me beforehand) and eventually returned. On my return I found the same Skipper, still crouched in the WC, still with his head over the newly installed loo. This time the tool situation had changed, this time the entire contents of the plastic boxes containing nuts and bolts had been strewn (or do I mean thrown ??) all over the tools – making the floor look somewhat like a piece of modern art.
The situation duly noted I offered to walk the dog, without particularly asking how it was going, that was plainly obvious from the verbal offerings coming from the loo (or maybe the skipper). Tines and I duly walked, and walked, and eventually came back to find the new loo finally installed, everything was fantastic and I was even offered the job of packing away all the tools, nuts, bolts, drill and drill bits (lucky me).
We unpacked the shopping, had a lovely lunch and settled down for a siesta. Nature took its course and we were very happy to use the new facilities, only to find a problem with the flush! Was it blocked? Had it been installed correctly? Was there an issue with the valves installed by the boatyard? The water was filling up fast – swift action and a bit of bailing out solved the immediate problem.
Luckily, age and experience were on our side this time and we decided (after the morning that we´d had) the problem could wait until the next day. This would be safer, there would be no more anger towards the loo today. The valves were duly closed and we settled down for the night.
The next morning we were up bright and early and ready to tackle the situation. We had a breakfast conference about the possible problems and potential solutions. Thrown into the mix was the possibility of user error – at which point I was able to spring into action and offer my services to try again. This time I turned the handle 90 degrees and started the process of green-amber-red (which is the order of flushing according to the instructions, unhelpfully color coded). Success! Oh, I must try that again, success! Skipper had a go, success ! Things were looking up, perhaps the day before a bit of tiredness had set in, perhaps the handle was mis-positioned, perhaps we didn’t flush it enough times initially – we´ll never know. However, now the problem was solved! There is no way Skipper will be able to find any tools or nuts or bolts next time a job comes along but for now loo-gate is over and peace reigns aboard Gemini J.
Take a look at the instructions – it´s simple right ??
Onto the next boat job xx
The Adventures of Gemini J 