We've killed the houseplants!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.  We had a lovely time at Carol and Graham's in Peterborough and saw most of the family.  Ben and Lucy came on Christmas Eve and stayed until midday on Christmas day and Mum and Dad were there for the day itself.  Too much to eat, too much to drink, a thorough warming up and luxuries like dry loo paper!  Bob and I both commented on how strange it seemed to be so out of touch with the outside temperature - it was strange to feel toasty warm and open the curtains to see the cars iced over and snow still on the ground!

Definitely back to earth with a bump when we got back here though!  Everything in the caravan was completely frozen.  I'm not sure the houseplants will survive - you know when a lettuce gets stuck at the back of the fridge, freezes and the leaves go see-through?  Well that's what the poor plants look like now!  The water in the loo was completely frozen solid and the shower head split because the water left in it froze.  So, first job was to switch on all the heaters, but that kept tripping the electrics and so we had to turn some off.  Then two hairdryers and the hot air gun on the pipes outside.  Luckily we got home while it was still light, but it was just about dark before we'd got the outside tap and stopcock thawed.  Phew, thank goodness for that . . . .  hold on, not so quick!  Still no water in the caravan - we've not had that problem before, so we moved the hot air squirting to the pipes that feed the van.  After three hours we gave up and filled a water carrier for drinking and a bucket for flushing (one flush between three of course, mmm, nice!) Before we went away, we attempted to drain the caravan pipes using the drain valves underneath, but there is obviously more to it than that and some water must have been left in the pipes.

At 7 o'clock this morning we heard the magical sound of water trickling into the toilet cistern - yeah! we thought, we don't have to do any more thawing out.  Intending to go straight back to bed, I got up to turn a tap on to flush the water through and get it flowing properly.  No need, I could hear water flowing in the kitchen . . . . . from the pipe under the water heater not the tap!!!  So, in just my nightie-T-shirt and spotty black bedsocks (it's a unique look!) I frantically mopped the water into the sink as fast as I could while Bob leapt into some jeans and legged it down to turn the stopcock off.  This meant we were in a worse state as we now had no water at all.  We had to melt snow to flush the loo! Luckily, after flooding the worktop the water had flowed down the hole where the pipes go through, filled up all the plates in the cupboard below then flowed again through the bottom hole where the pipe goes out under the caravan.  This did at least mean that the rest of the kitchen didn't get soaked and it was all contained in that one corner.  One of the plastic joints in the copper pipe had split, so all we needed was a new elbow joint . . . . on a Bank Holiday!  Why is it always a Bank Holiday?!  Luckily, one of the 'everything merchants' in town was open and we got the part quite easily - apparently, at just after 10am, Bob was the fifth person to go in for pipe fittings, so I guess a lot of people were in the same situation! 

Anyway, it was then very easy to fix and luckily there were no problems anywhere else.  Laura did a sterling job washing all the plates and cutlery to put back in the now dried out cupboard (it's one way to get the spring-cleaning done!) while I did a bodge-job fix on the shower head with silicone and gaffer tape (no-one's tried it yet!) and Bob re-taped all the lagging on the pipes.  All calm and back to normal again - and we all feel shattered!  So, after a walk round the block (oh, don't worry, I had got dressed earlier!) we came back to a warm, tidy caravan for a cuppa, christmas chocolate and a nap!  Now when I say warm caravan, that's by our standards - Laura is wrapped in a blanket hugging the heater!  Bless her, I bet she's wishing she hadn't come to stay!

The chickens were fine while we were away thanks to some very kind neighbours who called round twice a day with a flask of water, collected eggs and even fed them chopped up sprouts!

We have a new Christmas follower.  Now, I have a choice, this is either sister-in-law Annette, work friend Annette from 25 years ago (surely it's not that long ago!) or a complete stranger Annette  . . . . and I've just found out it's sister-in-law Annette and, yep, it's still exciting!

Solar tubes

Today we have had Paul the roofer and Steve the plumber here.    Luckily, it has been a sunny day and so the side they were working on was relatively warm - I did say relatively, it was still flipping chilly, but at one point Paul was actually too hot! 

They spent most of the time sorting out the frame on the roof for the solar panels.  Unfortunately, because the roof is quite short (down its slope), the panels have to go at the top of the roof so they had to take some of the ridge tiles off, so they could get the top couple of slates off, so they could put in the flashing pieces for the pipes to go through the roof.  When we did the roof, we managed to find some old, clay 'hogsback' ridge tiles which were a really good match for the originals at the slavage yard and, luckily, they had exactly the right number.  This of course means we have no spares, so the pressure was on a bit for Paul to get them off without breaking them.  He managed it, but we had really done too good a job of sticking them down so it did take a long time.  It was not very nice seeing someone rip up our hard work, and, having been so careful about everything, seeing things put back differently.  We were waiting for some clever method of re-attaching slates in the middle of a roof (normally, the nails are covered by the slate above which stops water getting in), but the magic method is silicone or 'Pink Grip'!  Bit of a disappointment, but I guess you can't see it once done.   Don't get me wrong, he didn't bodge anything, it is just builders' ways which are, by necessity, different to ours.

Another niggle, and one we will definitely have to do something about, is the rubber seal on the flashing for the pipes.   It's bright orange!  I don't know if they do them in grey or black for on a slate roof, but we have orange.  They actually look like comedy plastic boobs sat on the roof!  Anyone old enough to have watched Kenny Everet will know exactly what I mean.  I did spend yesterday afternoon carefully crafting a piece of lead to go over the top to hide it, but it's actually the bottom you see most, so that's no good.  Think we'll have to find some paint that you can put on rubber and do that.

Anyway, here's what the frame looks like.  The tubes fit in vertically and there are 30 of them in all.  It will spoil the roof somewhat, but we just have to think of the cheap, environmentally-friendly hot water . . . . and the payment from the Government.

On another subject, this morning we woke up to no water for the first time.  Not bad going I suppose.  So, no shower, teeth cleaning, cuppa or anything and only one flush between us!  All we had was the water from my hot water bottle which was still quite nice and warm for a quick wash and also meant the chickens could have a drink.  The weak point in our water system is the outside tap which is near the mains and the junction for caravan water.  Although it is insulated, it is a bit vulnerable and I guess with prolonged -10 temperatures the freeze travels further and further down until last night it reached the caravan branch.  So, half an hour warming pipes with a hairdryer and hot air gun did the trick - just what you need before breakfast!  We have made sure it is defrosted now though so that tonight the freeze will have to start all over again and hopefully won't get as far as the caravan bit.  Might put a jug of water in the fridge tonight though for teeth cleaning, etc.  I know that sounds silly, but I think the fridge is probably warmer at 4 degrees than the caravan at night!