Margie left at 08:40 to go to hospital to have an xray of her spine. (It is bent!)
She came back knocking on the kitchen window to get me out. Two guys from Balfour Utilities are in the lane,
looking to provide mains water somewhere.
It is dawn, their monster van is in the lane, blue (water) traffic barriers are erected.
They dug down and found the water main. It is a cast iron 3" pipe. 800mm down.
Meantime, Darren is installing insulation in the house. He wanted to do it, I was too busy to help him.
He just got on with it.
I was keen to see how they connected to the water main. It involved a gadget that clamped around 3" pipe.
It had two screw down drivers equal distant from the centre of a circular top plate that was water tight.
The left hand driver cut and threaded the hole in the water main.
The right hand one contained the brass valve that screwed into the threaded hole
when the top plate was rotated 180 degrees.
Here they are, Craig Dawson up above and the boss Phil Raine doing the skillful job in the hole.
We were very pleased with their work. Notice they are wearing hard hats, as they ought for safety.
On our side of the road the water meter is installed.
On the other side the connection is made to the water main.
And here it is the mains water stop-cock in the house.
The black pipe to the right is for the electricity supply,
and the two to the left are for power and signal to the garage.
Whilst all of this is going on I have to fix the puncture in my car.
I have had to use the emergency spare wheel, which is not elegant!
Phil and Craig left telephoning for the guys to clear up their mess.
We did not get their names, they didn't want any cups of tea, they were too busy,
another job in Wallsend after us.
In the meantime all we have to do is to put insulation in the black bits you can see.
Up above we have laid ceiling cladding as temporary floor boarding.
The upstairs has three bedrooms, landing, bathroom, and store room