Life is riddled with a procession of minor impediments

[Tiplodocus]

I often do little repairs myself. Heating element in the oven, heating element in tumble dryer, thermocouple on gas boiler are all easy to replace with ten minutes on YouTube. They cost peanuts online. Compare that to a minimum £60 call out charge and then having to wait in all day for a repairman...

Plus, you know, you get that satisfaction.

[Jim_Campbell]

thermocouple on gas boiler are all easy to replace with ten minutes on YouTube.

I hope to God you're Safe Gas Registered (formerly CORGI).

Cheers

Jim

[Tiplodocus]

thermocouple on gas boiler are all easy to replace with ten minutes on YouTube.

I hope to God you're Safe Gas Registered (formerly CORGI).

Cheers

Jim

They won't let me register. Something to do with my last three houses blowing up in unexplained circumstances.

[Jim_Campbell]

They won't let me register. Something to do with my last three houses blowing up in unexplained circumstances.

Arf!

Jim

[The Legendary Shark]

I have an abscess the size of a golf ball in my gum. I thought it was nothing and had almost got rid of it with a salty mouthwash (settle down at the back...) but it came up like an alien egg in the night. I rolled over onto the effected cheek (all right, you at the back, final warning...) and had to peel myself off the ceiling.

[Zenith 666]

Shark.i know your pain.a few years ago I went for root canal treatment and nerve was still alive and infection became an abscess.the worst pain I've ever experienced and I've broken most of the bones in my body.had to suffer for two weeks that I only survived because my girlfriends brother was home from America and gave me Vicodin to help me get some sleep.Hope you get it dealt with swiftly.

[von Boom]

Ouch Sharky.

Managed to scald myself with hot tea today. My hand is a stunning shade of red.

[radiator]

I'm often amazed at how little effort some people put into repairing things these days

I'm amazed how little some people value their time. Admittedly, since I became a freelancer, I feel the value of my time quite acutely, but I've always made a value judgement as to financial cost vs time.

If I'm going to have spend half a day working out how to fix something and then attempting to fix it with no particular guarantee of success, weighed against either paying someone else to fix the damn thing or buying a new one... Well, I'm open to persuasion on the repair front, but my instincts lean towards handing over the cash.

(Note: I understand that for people who are more time-rich and cash-poor this value judgement may work out quite differently. I anticipate that when I retire I'll probably be fixing things that aren't even broken...)

Cheers

Jim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZZFiGBX2CA

Agree with all of the above. In an ideal world we'd all work a 30 hour week and have the luxury of time to have a more hands-on approach to these things, but that's not how the modern world works.

Same goes for DIY. I love the idea of doing little projects, but the reality - sinking loads of money and entire weekends into discovering something is much harder and more complicated than I initially thought until eventually calling it a bodge job - is something I've pretty much given up on. Life's too short and free time is too scarce.

Regarding PC gaming, a lot of people barely have any time to actually play games, let alone spends hour upon hour fannying about with graphics cards and circuit boards. Some people just want the convenience of something that works out of the box - it's hardly as if we should expect everyone who wants to drive be able to build and service their own car.

[The Legendary Shark]

Thanks, Zenith. I called the dentist, explained my situation and asked for an appointment.
.
"Sounds like an emergency," said the receptionist.
.
"I'll say," I said.
.
"Then 'phone back tomorrow at 9am, we can only make emergency appointments at that time."
.
"I can't make an appointment now?" I was incredulous.
.
"Oh yes," she said, "but not an emergency appointment. Emergencies have to wait until all the regular appointments have been booked."
.
"I see. Do you have any openings tomorrow?"
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"Only emergency appointments, I'm afraid."
.
"Can I book one of those, then, please?"
.
"Certainly - at 9am tomorrow. Oh, and keep at it because 9am is a busy time and if you can't get through you'll have to try again at 9am on Thursday."
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"Thanks."
.
Who writes their rules, Kafka?

[The Legendary Shark]

Thanks, Zenith. I called the dentist, explained my situation and asked for an appointment.
.
"Sounds like an emergency," said the receptionist.
.
"I'll say," I said.
.
"Then 'phone back tomorrow at 9am, we can only make emergency appointments at that time."
.
"I can't make an appointment now?" I was incredulous.
.
"Oh yes," she said, "but not an emergency appointment. Emergencies have to wait until all the regular appointments have been booked."
.
"I see. Do you have any openings tomorrow?"
.
"Only emergency appointments, I'm afraid."
.
"Can I book one of those, then, please?"
.
"Certainly - at 9am tomorrow. Oh, and keep at it because 9am is a busy time and if you can't get through you'll have to try again at 9am on Thursday."
.
"Thanks."
.
Who writes their rules, Kafka?

[The Legendary Shark]

Dammit, sorry.

[The Legendary Shark]

Dammit, sorry.

[TordelBack]

This does seem to be a recurring theme in emergency dentistry - I had almost the exact same conversation when my son had a ghastly abscess a few years back, transcript of which I believe is archived on here somewhere... 

Heart goes out to you, TLS, in fact my jaw has actually started aching even thinking about it.

[The Legendary Shark]

Thanks, Tordels. The weird thing is that my teeth are all fine - this abscess runs front to back down the very bottom of my left gum, cheek and jaw. Not looking forward to the drainage but can't wait to get it done. Bit of a fever coming on as well.
.
If you haven't heard from me by this time tomorrow, tell Marg I love her and not to take any notice of that grumpy green brother of hers...

[Mattofthespurs]

Dammit, sorry.

And so is the story of my Doctors. Phone at 8am or wait for 2 weeks to get an appointment.
At least the NHS still works....Just