The Editor Writes

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," said The Mother...

Transcript

00:00they say it never rains but it pours and last week was a perfect illustration of that behind

00:11the curtains of casa davies tempted by the offer of better priced broadband and tv a few weeks ago

00:16we decided to abandon the companies we've handed over our hard-earned cash to for more than 10

00:20years in favor of the greener grass of their competitors your broadband will be faster than

00:25ever and you'll get exactly the same tv service but at a fraction of the cost we were assured

00:3010 days later i was almost reaching breaking point as yet another customer services assistant told me

00:36how sorry she was that i'd had no broadband or tv for days are you from wales asked one helpful soul

00:41who told me he was based in southern ireland thinking this might provide an instant solution to my problem

00:46i told him i was i've always wanted to go to a place in wales called archfartsnad he told me i saw it on

00:51a road sign on a tv program once and thought it sounded grand unwilling to burst his travel bubble

00:56i didn't tell him his dream location was the welsh word for supermarket on tuesday sick and tired of

01:02the chaos i ditched the new systems and signed up again with those i'd abandoned that's it i announced

01:08to the housemate we're never moving any services again by mid-afternoon with the papers safely off to

01:15print i decided to claim back a few overtime hours and make an early start on some work in the garden

01:20popping into the downstairs loo before i headed off to my horticultural project i noticed that a tiny

01:26leak from a radiator pipe i'd been monitoring for a few days hadn't improved so with a few spare

01:31moments on my hands i decided to tighten the nut i believed to be the source of the tiny wet patch on

01:36the floor kneeling down i took grip of the offending joint only to be virtually knocked off my knees by a

01:41fountain of cold water which almost hit the ceiling desperately trying to control the flood i shouted for

01:46the housemate hoping she would hear me despite the fact that for some reason she rarely uses her

01:51hearing aids on the days i work from home eventually she realized that the panic in my voice was real

01:56and arrived on the scene armed with the household supply of towels ring the emergency pipe insurance

02:01number i urged her you'll have to do that she replied i haven't got my hearing aids in so i can't hear

02:07them which hand am i supposed to use i asked trying against the odd to hold the two ends of broken pipe

02:12together the apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it said the mother rolling her eyes as she

02:17surveyed the damage later that night i remember your father tried to change a washer on the water tank

02:22once and flooded the house and brought the ceiling down she said i wish i'd known that this afternoon

02:27said the housemate in a tone which was anything but forgiving

02:30thing

02:50you