Boiler safety

[baroque_mongoose]

I have the engineer here at the moment for my "annual" boiler safety check (it's always quite a bit less than a year). The actual engineer is never any bother, but there's always a certain amount of hassle beforehand, because for several days before the appointment they keep texting you to make sure it's still all right. Even though the first text is always "please ring us on X number if it's not all right, and then we'll rearrange". I got four texts in as many days, plus two today, one to say "the engineer is five minutes away", and the other, rather more than five minutes later, to say "the engineer is here" (he wasn't; he was outside, true, but he was having trouble finding somewhere to park, and it was the first time he'd been to this building so he didn't know he could just park round the back). I actually hate texts, but it's the thing these days, isn't it?

Anyway, I shall be very surprised if my boiler turns out to be unsafe, because it's the same age as the flat, which is a few months shy of seven years. But I'm glad they do check regularly (and the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, while they're at it), even though you do have to put everything back where they found it after they've moved it. Some of them are more talkative than others; while I do enjoy a chat, on this occasion I appreciated the fact that this one was quiet and efficient. I rather had my mind on other things.

We still have a mother. There is no news from that end. I could do with some...