I

realise its been quite some time since my last post and that I have become quite a stranger in these parts but I have not been at home much. My calendar has been like this

28 Feb / 1 March - Newcastle for the weekend looking at locations for the Knitting & Crochet Guild's 2010 AGM weekend.

5 Mar / 8 March - Glasgow for the ICHF show on the UKHandKnitting Association's Learn to Knit Stand

12 Mar / 15 March - Birmingham for the ICHF show on the Learn to Knit Stand

18 Mar / 22 March - London Olympia for the Twisted Thread show on the UKHandKnitting Association's Learn to Knit Stand.

So I have been at home long enough to wash behind my neck and change toothbrushes. Things have been a bit hiccuped between the shows as well. On the Tuesday after Birmingham I got up in the morning to a somewhat cold (for me) cottage. I felt the radiator and it was stone cold. I went and checked the boiler and the pilot had gone out and wouldn't relight. I walked along to the bus stop at the end of my road whilst on hold to British Gas. I rang them and explained the problem and they said that they would get an emergency engineer out to check it, open all doors and windows, don't use electrics etc and he would be there within the hour despite my saying I could smell no gas. When he eventually turns up he checks everything and says that the pilot is electronic and I would need to get a normal engineer out as he only deals with emergency leaks. I then ring British Gas again and they say that they will get someone out that day before 1pm. 12.30pm arrives along with a telephone call. The engineer is running late and it will be 2pm. 2.15pm arrives along with the late engineer with no apologies. He spends about 5 minutes looking at our boiler and then 20 minutes on the 'phone to one of his colleagues about a different job. When he finished the telephone call he finally finishes the job in hand and has the boiler working again. He also recommended that we have the system flushed which would cost the delightful sum of £530 but would guarantee it for life (on an 11 year old boiler which nobody else has recommended for the past six years that gets serviced twice a year).

Then when I was in London I developed chronic toothache. I managed to control it with a combination of Ibuprofen and Paratamol and am most surprised I didn't jangle with the amount of pills. On the Monday morning on the way in to work I telephoned my dentist to arrange an emergency appointment. I asked for "the last available appointment" to be replied with "we don't have any afternoon appointments". So I ask "what is the last available appointment you have then". I was told 9.40am. At this I walk from the side of the train station I am already on to the other to catch a train home.

I get home and pottering around I heard dripping from behind the washing machine. I drag the washing machine out and find that the pipe is leaking. Now give me a computer or a knitting needle and I am in my element. Give me a piece of DIY and I have got as much chance as a chocolate teapot! Well I turned the inlet pipe off (I know that much) and go up to the dentist.

My dentist had a prod around and took some x-rays. Whilst I was waiting I popped outside and range the shop of the chap who unblocked the machine after the MonsterMog episode. She said it could be either the washer or the pipe itself.

I then went back into the dentist and was told (after the x-rays had developed) that the root was dying (do you believe I typed dyeing first!) and it would have to be removed. He then asked "you're not allergic to penicillin are you?" to which I put him ephatically right that I am and that he could prescribe me pencillin but not sure that I would need an extraction appointment if he did. He then gave me an alternative prescription and I toddled back down the hill home.

When I got home I checked the washing machine which I had turned off at the inlet pipe andfound it still dry. I popped into the shop of the plumbeer whilst I was waiting for antibiotics to be made up and had a discussion with them. The sister reckoned that it was the pipe from the machine to the main plumbing that I needed to change. One 'phone call to MM to discover whether he had the "technical" expertise needed to which he said yes I bought a new pipe. I got home that night and gave him the pipe to change it and after pulling the washing machine out he promptly tightened up the screw fitting from the pipe to the plumbing and said it was just on the loose and hasn't dripped since!

Today I popped up to Newcastle to the Pins & Needles show at the Radio Metro Arena. I have to say that it was quite an odd sensation going to a show as a visitor rather than being on a stand especially when I knew so many of the retailers there. I have to admire the people that are there for the entirety of a show as it is held in an ice rink so the cold/damp seeps up through the floor despite inch thick wooden flooring and carpeting :( I didn't come away empty-handed though as I did buy some buttons for the cardigan I am knitting and will post a picture as soon as I locate them in my knitting bag along with my camera.

The rest of this weekend is now going to be spent tidying up as Ethyl and youngest brother descend on us on Monday for a fortnight for the easter break. Am hoping that they have decided where they want to go over than "Last Of The Summer Wine" country and the "National Film and Television Institute Museum" as tourist attraction wise I've gone a blank!