Late yesterday afternoon the phone rang. We have not been answering the phone while staying here as we can’t speak French and our hostess had advised she gets heaps of ‘cold calls’. But I just had this ‘feeling’.…

And, it was Bob, the plumber. He offered to pop round to take a look. Very good of him considering it was Friday afternoon. 

Mick showed him the manhole he had found. 

I was not happy with Mick exploring down there with who knows what sort of electrical circuits …

And I was correct. 

This morning Bob hopped down there and found lots of pooled water and damp electrical boards that he did not like the look of. Bob also found one of the pipes had a hole in it and on close inspection, both he and Mick concluded it was made by a rodent. 

Bob successfully replaced the eaten pipe and then stayed on for a cuppa and a chat. He told Mick about the need to re-prime all the heaters, which we did not know about, and after Bob left he went and refilled each of the heaters with water. 

We are feeling very relieved and much warmer already. 

And what do you think it cost for Bob’s efforts? 

Which included a trip to a neighbouring village to buy the parts he needed, and for two calls to our place and his time to repair it (not including the one hour chatting time we enjoyed with him) – he estimated two hours …and charged €70. 

Brilliant. 

This is a photo of Mick last night after he knew Bob would be back to repair the heater today. He was very happy and opened one of his (new) favourite beers.