And I’m not talking Bingo here.

Half of me doesn’t believe in omens, but the other half has been delighted with the weather that greeted me as I moved in to my new place… a fresh fall of snow followed by a gloriously sunny day. A real “it’s only going to get better from here” message.

When I got in, there was a note saying that the stop valve for the washing machine fittings was not shutting off properly so the water was turned off. You could turn the water on for short periods but had to put a bowl under the pipes. The problem would go away when the washing machine was fitted so I made this a priority item.

There I am, trying to get my head and both arms through a gap a little bit narrower than my neck, lying upside down on the wet floor, connecting up the pipes. I manage it and turn on the hot valve. Then I come to turn on the cold one and the plastic tap handle is missing. When I get a spanner onto it, the valve starts to drip water out of the turny bit - where water should never come out.

The vale is situated directly above the fusebox.

At this point I curse the vendor, just a little bit, under my breath like. Or rather, I shout “oh, JAMES! what the BLOODY HELL have you left me with here?!”. I can picture Kim and Kate exchanging glances and rolling their eyes at this point.

Seconds later there was a knock at the door. “Hi” says James. “I broke the stop valve when I took the washing-machine out so here’s a new valve, and here’s some PTFE tape for fitting it.”

Well, I owed him an apology. He collected his cutlery (left in error) and departed, hoping that Kim, Kate and I will be very happy here.