The delightful sound of rain on the large flat leaves of the old fig tree was music to my ears last night. The temperature dropped and at around five thirty I fell in to a deep sleep, my first for days.
Not until nine thirty did I open my eyes and my telephone was ringing,it was good news, the electrician had his new thermostat and would be arriving after lunch.
There was a good deal of bustle as first my son and then Pa awoke to discover the lateness of the hour. With breakfast to make, a grocery delivery arriving and the electrician after lunch we got a wriggle on and in half and hour we were sitting at the breakfast table eating our buttered crumpets and congratulating ourselves on the fact that we would have plenty of time. Half an hour ;later the electrician arrived.........early..... and accompanied by a couple of mates. I put the kettle on again, cracked another pack of crumpets and the second sitting for breakfast began.
At this point I should tell you that this electrician is the on who procured and installed our oven in January and who has also already had a go at fixing the blasted thing, unsuccessfully I might add.
He proceeded to do exactly what he did last time switched it on , left it for a few minutes and said “There you are its getting hot.” I explained has I had before that one needed a little more than that if one was to bake with any success and he replied that the temperature fluctuation was only about twenty five degrees. That I informed him was enough to burn a sponge cake and sufficient to cause quite a lot of trouble when cooking a roast.
I then asked him to sort out the fact that the cooker would not switch off and to deal with the fact that it was actually impossible to tell at what temperature the oven is firing at.......he could not do either to my satisfaction. He took the knobs off the control panel and with a pair of pliers turned the metal rod beneath, he seemed pleased and said that that was the trouble …....no comment from me.
He was very defensive about the whole thing as indeed he had been the last time he came to look at the problem. Since I had said nor done anything to cause this I was at a loss to understand his aggressive stance. He insisted that there was nothing wrong with the oven and practically accused me of imagining the whole thing.
I said that surely in the twenty first century it was not unreasonable to expect to know the exact temperature at which the oven was operating and he replied that it was after all “only a domestic appliance.” What I wonder did he mean by that? Then he said something that made me realise why he was so worried, he claimed that the oven was an expensive model and that he had the receipt for over four hundred pounds to prove it.
All the this receipt proves is that either the man is a fool of worse he is a crook. After the cooker was installed I checked to manufactures recommended price and the price at a variety of outlets and the highest price that I could find it on sale at was two hundred and thirty pounds. Most places such as Dixon ,Comet etc. retail the model at two hundred and nine pounds.
Now if as we know trade prices are much cheaper that hight street prices there is some thing badly wrong and it is not just the cookers function. I merely mentioned that I could have brought it for much less and the whole mood changed, I wasn't to worry he would sort it out.
Now there are two things that make me seriously cross, one is being called a liar and the other, which I really resent is being taken for a fool. This man has it would seem scammed the estate out of a couple of hundred pounds and convinced them that the oven is fine and that I am a trouble maker. All I can say is that if he fixes it I shall take the matter no further, if the maintenance manager is fool enough too get rooked by such a childish ploy that is nothing whatever to do with me.
The miscreant returned having been unable to locate any replacement knobs and precoded to screw in to place two wooden cupboard handles , I kid you not! He then, with the aid of his thermometer spent the best part of an hour trying to write the various temperatures on to the knob, it was enough to make the cat laugh. He was forced to give up at length and very apologetic promised to apprise me of any progress on the knobs which he had ordered from the manufacturer.
He was so polite, so conciliatory where as this morning he was rude and accusatory,He now understands that I have cottoned on to his scam and is afraid of what I might do. He is safe for I am not vindictive, as long as I get the cooked fixed I do not care but this I guarantee, he will be straight in his dealings with me in the future and a more polite too.
I have a motto to which I always adhere and it is this. Never start an argument unless you know that you are in the right and never even start a fight that you cannot Finnish. This is why I almost always win.
This wretched business was not allowed to spoil our day and we all enjoyed the stir fry at dinner, it has been a while since I used the old wok and I think I shall used it again very soon.
Later I spent some time with Pa teaching him how to use Open Office and his e mail account, he is so much better at the moment and remembers things too. I showed him how to cut and paste and soon , when he has mastered that little lot I intend to set him up with a blog site so look out world Pa is on the loose!
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