Diary of an AuDHD Squirrel. Day 784 , Saturday 20/12/2025
Saturday started at just gone 7am when I wandered downstairs made breakfast for Mrs S.
After I had finished my chores Mrs S told me that a neighbour of my late MiL had called her to say that they had noticed that the overflow for the central heating was leaking.
So a completely unplanned mission to identify & fix the leak was launched. Somewhat delayed by me being completely unable to find my portable work light (which I found much later in the day still up in the loft at our own house! )
So we trundled across to my MiL's house thru thick fog, narrowly avoiding other drivers who thought that either driving at breakneck speed or driving without lights on in the middle of nowhere were good survival techniques in dense fog!
The first challenge when we arrived was finding the step ladders used to access the loft - this would seem to be a fairly easy task, but thanks to the law of Sod it turned out to be fairly epic.
The ladders were stored in one of the 2 sheds on the property - I do wonder if my late FiL was a bit of a man cave fanatic! when we opened the shed door we found that the ladders were covered by an old kitchen cupboard. On closer inspection the cupboard had fallen off the wall, the chipboard back being compromised because there was a leak in the shed roof!
The cupboard was still full of stuff & it was face down, so as soon as one started to lift it the contents made ominous glass / crockery type noises.
Not to be defeated by mere physics & gravity I hit upon the idea of removing the chipboard backing. This as already noted was warped & compromised due to water damage.
Getting stuff out was then childishly trivial with only 1 old & rather ugly glass vase not making the cut!
Between the 2 of us we managed to get the carcass of the cupboard out of the shed & dumped it out the way behind the other shed.
Then finally the step ladders were laid bare for all to see!
Having gained acres to the loft I discovered, amongst the piles of old clothes, Christmas decorations (some of which have accidentally followed us home) & general bric a brac that seems to breed in lofts of houses that have had the same occupants for a couple of decades, the header tank - conveniently located in the middle of the loft not far from the hatch - yjr lights even worked although they stretched off in the other direction ... how we laughed! *sigh*
The leak was, it turned out due to a worn ballcock valve seal. I had to remove the body of the ballcock valve & replace the seal downstairs because there was no room & less light in the loft.
By happy coincidence I had in my fairly extensive plumbing kit a brand new set of seals - The Lady feeling pity for me after the whole cupboard debacle!
Leak fixed we got everything back into the car & set out for home.
On the way Mrs S treated me to lunch at a small cafe we know on the edge of the moors, a very pretty location & a nice little cafe. I had a seasonal take on a bacon & sausage butty & in all honesty it was one of the tastiest meals I've had in a while! We spent a pleasant hour there then headed for the hills of home.
When we got home I discovered that I had left my portable BT speaker at my MiLs house, this was frustrating, but they are not expensive & Mrs S bought me a new one for Christmas!
We finished the day by relaxing with the cats infant of the TV, starting a 'Knives Out' fest. We managed the first one today & we will probably get thru the other 2 tomorrow.
Final Thoughts.
Actually not a bad day, there was a lot of frustration, but the satisfaction of fixing the problem offset most of that. Getting lunch out & a new BT speaker out of the exercise was just the icing on the cake!
Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖
@autistics
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