| Always when we're ticking along, something just pops outta nowhere and knocks the stuffing right out of us. Just before Wellington Anniversary day, I went into the laundry to see the floor had started to dip and the tiles began cracking. It looked dreadful and I thought, 'uh-oh.' The landlords' plumber came to look and this guy is as dodgy as a nine bob note (as my Mum would say!). He's done a lot of work around the house, and its all pretty shoddy. We just banked it up as something we could negotiate on if we bought the house. The deck, the retaining wall, the bathrooms, he's got his mark all over these things. He took one look at the laundry floor and said, this is an insurance job. It'll cost thousands. He said that our washing machine hadn't been installed correctly. He may right, but I was surprised that a whole year has passed with no other signs until now. The landlords insurance won't cover it if it is the washing machine because it's a gradual thing, and I'm well versed on tenancy laws, Steve and I will have to cover the cost of the repairs. We can then take the company that installed the washing machine to court to recover some of the costs. According to a lawyer we checked with, we would have a case. However, the prospect of another legal battle, time and energy and money being sunk into something that we won't have anything to show for is too much to bear at the moment. A friend of ours came over and suggested that the problem could be the concrete underneath, as the house is built on clay. Thank god the laundry, while upstairs is on concrete with no rooms underneath. We are going to seek an independant assesor to examine it, as the plumber also happens to be the guy who built the laundry room!! Anyway, in a foul mood for the day, I drove my ill friend around to help her out, all the while thinking about this sodding floor. When I finally got home, I couldn't believe my eyeballs when I saw my Landrover (which the Nanny uses) was dripping out onto the driveway. No, not from the air con, a full on water leak. This happens to tie in nicely with it being due its WOF (MOT), so automatically the car will fail. The leak is not coming from an easily accessible pipe, its coming from somewhere beyond the manifold. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, in short, thats a huge labour bill for the mechanic to basically take apart the inside of my bloody great big V8 landrover engine. I said 2009 was going to be busy, I had no idea it was going to be so expensive as well! The next few weeks when I need to revise/prepare for court with the police officer/prepare for my parents imminent arrival/train for the Rotorua marathon, I'll be driving around my daughters' to all the classes I've previously talked about. Grrr! |