A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: BOILERS, DOCTORS AND MISSED REHEARSALS…

Given that I suffer from almost terminal white-coat syndrome, I’m finding all this a bit of a stress, but know that it is better to be checked out now, rather than waiting until something maybe more serious avails itself.

18th February 2025

Every so often life gets in the way of what you had planned for a day, with unforeseen events unfolding when you least expect them. Today, has been one of those days when best laid plans were put to bed and I had to deal with things other than building models…at least in the main.

It all began just after midnight with the discovery that our boiler in the loft had at some point sprung a small leak and over the last few days water had collected below it, worked its way through the insulation, the loft floor and into our newly plastered, newly decorated and newly carpeted, dining room…

The leaking boiler was found completely by accident. Had I still been wearing my slippers last night, I doubt I would have noticed the damp carpet. That being so, it could have gone on for a lot longer before I had chance to do anything about it and the damage could have been a lot worse. Normal indoor footwear had been replaced with bare feet as I prepared for bed and it was only when I trod in the damp patch between the dining room and my office, that I noticed we had a problem. A rather panicked trek into the loft found the dripping boiler, the wet loft floor and the need to use a bucket to catch the drips before an engineer can come over in the morning to hopefully fix the problem. The sum total of all this is a cold house, a shivering writer sat in front of his computer, and the likelihood that we will be facing a hefty repair bill. Oh joy.

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Away from the issues with the boiler, I’ve also had to deal with some slight health worries that resulted in a trip to the doctors, this afternoon. Over the years I’ve been fighting fluctuating blood pressure which has recently involved the unwelcome use of tablets. Having taken a low dose blood pressure tablet over Christmas with only partial success, the doctor suggested a slightly higher dose which I’ve been taking for a week or so. All well and good, until I noticed that my right foot was swelling up and I was getting pains in my lower leg, both causing me some concern. The upshot of this is that I had to visit the doctors this afternoon, I’m now on different medication, and I’m also looking at a precautionary blood test to check for any possible blood clots. Oh and on top of the new medication, I’m taking bloody thinning tablets for the next three days until those blood test results come back. Did I mention that I always see tables as unwelcome?

Given that I suffer from almost terminal white-coat syndrome, I’m finding all this a bit of a stress, but know that it is better to be checked out now rather than waiting until something maybe more serious avails itself. The doctor didn’t seem overly concerned which put my mind at rest to a degree, but not so much that I felt able to drop back into work this afternoon. Instead, I decided to take my mind off the earlier part of the day by going through the loft, which not only sorted out another area, allowing me to throw out a load more stuff, I was able to warm up thanks to the multiple layers I had put on to stave off the cold in the rest of the house as I moved junk from one place to another.  There you go, it hasn’t all been bad! Except, the day had one more twist in store…

This evening, I was supposed to be at a band rehearsal, 6 until 8. Following a WhatsApp message last week in which one of the members asked to be excused as he had something else on, I assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that the whole rehearsal had been cancelled. It had not. So there was I now working on the Anson at 6.20, when I should have been with the boys, playing drums. What an embarrassing cock-up and perhaps the final nail in the coffin of my day.

Despite the travails of today, I have managed to do some work on the Anson, completing all of the smaller details ready to be fixed in place in the morning. I should only be at the doctors for a few minutes for my test, so the rest of the day can be used to fix everything in place to complete the model. I just have to photograph it all as I go along, but even taking that into account, I foresee no more than a few hours to get it all done. And yes, fingers crossed we will also have some heating in the morning which will prove to be most welcome, shaking hands being less than useful when glue and painted model kit parts, meet in earnest.

See you tomorrow.