David Currie

The last day of 2012 got off to a bad start: there was a bit of a clunk as I flushed the toilet for Duncan but it was only whilst washing his hands that I noticed the fountain of water coming out of the toilet cistern! As I couldn’t immediately see what the problem was so I raced downstairs to turn off the water only to be greeted by the sight of water pouring through the kitchen ceiling. After 30 seconds of scrabbling around under the kitchen sink to no effect (I was turning off the outside tap!) I ran back upstairs and lifted the ballcock in the cistern to cut off the water. It then became apparent what had happened. The outlet on the valve had come off leaving the mains pressure water free to spout upwards. The cistern is boxed in so the top corner is cut away to allow access. The water was therefore shooting up and then, hitting the lid of the box, coming back down again outside the cistern. Thankfully the water didn’t have to travel far from there before it found the hole for the kitchen light fitting (and the lights were off)!

A bit of shouting finally roused Christine and I could tie off the ballcock whilst I found the correct tap for the mains. After a bit of fishing around in the cistern I could finally replace the outlet (tying it in place this time as obviously the normal scheme wasn’t sufficient) which just left the clean up operation downstairs.

There was plenty of water to be found outside as well in the shape of rain so it was good that, in the afternoon, we were off to see Treasure Island at the Nuffield Theatre. It was very well done. Doctor Livesey kept protesting that it was not a pantomime and that it was a traditional family Christmas entertainment but he wasn’t fooling anyone. There was certainly plenty to laugh at for both adults and children with the occasional bit of audience participation thrown in for good measure. Despite Emma’s reply in the interval that the best part so far was the ice cream she was tucking in to, she certainly enjoyed the production. Hard to say what Duncan made of it all – he was certainly transfixed through to the end though! The run continues until 13 January so well worth a ticket if you’re in the area.

676As the Sunday morning mist burnt off to reveal a beautiful sunny day we decided to make the most of our Hillier Gardens membership that Christine renewed a few weeks back. We certainly weren’t the only ones to think so as the car park was heaving. Fortunately the gardens are big enough to absorb the numbers. Once again Emma went to sleep on the way there which meant we could just sit and read for 45 minutes until she woke. We then just wound our way around the garden taking in the autumnal colours and inspecting the sculptures that make up the annual Art in the Park exhibition. Emma sadly still has to learn the maxim “look but don’t touch”. Let’s hope no lasting damage was done!