I am beginning to develop a pathological hatred for water, which isn't good for my health. Currently it seems that it has been raining constantly and heavily for about four days, and I am getting to the point where I am dreading having to go outside under the open skies. Because they are not open, they are closed over by grey and rain-bearing clouds which obscure the sun and the sky, and the clouds continuously pelt me with rain.
I don't dress well for rain, either, which doesn't help. I have a fantastic waterproof coat which I bought from Mountain Warehouse, but that is about it. The water runs off my coat onto my trousers, and turns them two-tone, normally dark at the front and then lighter at the back. On days when the rain is particularly heavy, even my shoes get in on the act, and go all two-tone too. And then they take an age to dry out.
I popped to the chip shop the other night, and it was raining, so I hurried there and got into the shop quickly, to get out of the rain. I placed my order and then sat down on the window ledge, and then jumped up pretty quickly - the shopfront was leaking and the water was collecting on the ledge. Another example of where rain or water was out to get me.
And it's not like I'm safe even in my own house. A few years ago, we had an extension built onto our kitchen, and that leaked on us too. To be honest, it leaked onto a friend while they were standing up and preparing to leave. It was a bit lucky really, or we might not have noticed. We had to have the flashing redone to seal the join, but it seems to have been dry since.
Last summer we had a flood in the house; the toilet in the bathroom overflowed and flooded the kitchen while we were out. We're still in the process of putting that right, and I will come back to it.
A couple of weeks after that water escaped from our shower and flooded the bedroom below; that was a minor incident compared to the kitchen flood, but it prevented us from using the shower for a few months. It turned out that the sealant around the shower tray had dried out, and so water had escaped around it and ruined a small portion of the wallpapered ceiling below.
And now, while installing a new kitchen suite, we've discovered that the mains pipe has been leaking since forever. The guys who are fitting the kitchen are proper builders who can also take care of the plumbing, so that is a bonus, but there is no guarantee that the leak will be fixed before they want to start installing the new cabinets, and other bits & pieces. I am dreading that they might have to delay the install, especially considering that currently we don't have a kitchen at all; no basin for washing up, no oven for cooking, no washing machine or tumble dryer to clean our clothes with. And the ground floor is about half the size that we are used to without the kitchen, which is making things all a little squished. If I were to try to spin it positively, I might describe it as "cosy".
So that might go some way to explaining why, these days, when I hear the patter of raindrops seemingly constantly and continuously against the window, my heart sinks. But it'll be summer soon, and then I will be able to enjoy warm sunny days and long summer evenings, and it won't rain at all.
TTFN.
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