Moving down here, I’ve got so much to do and to sort out, life’s been a continual headache – and then, a few days ago – mum’s electric cooker blew up. Solving the problem felt like one bridge too far, but I couldn’t ignore it. We couldn’t manage with just a microwave and a toaster.
I knew nothing about buying cookers. Feeling very sorry for myself I went online, researching how to buy one – and how to get it delivered and wired in – and the old one taken away. Then my brother came and said: it’s just the fuse! And indeed, once he mended the fuse, the hotplates and grill worked again but the oven was still kaput. In brother’s opinion, the element had blown. All I needed to do was get a new one. Easier said than done.
As a newcomer to the area, I don’t have that invaluable list of recommended trades people. Mum’s neighbours suggested I went to a shop in town that sells white goods. What good advice. The shop wasn’t a big, cavernous superstore out in some retail park. It was a regular high street shop, run by two friendly chaps who, without any fuss at all, said: You need Blue Van Man. He’s efficient and he’s honest. If the appliance can’t be repaired, he’ll tell you.
Feeling hopeful, I rang the number. Amazingly, Blue Van Man happened to be on a job just round the corner. Within an hour he was in our kitchen. He said the element had indeed blown – ‘must have been quite a bang!’ – and the thermostat had also blown. He asked if I wanted to repair it? So my internet researches came in handy after all, because I knew the price he quoted me for a repair was a quarter of the price of a new oven – with all the attendant installation costs. And at mum’s age, she really doesn’t need to buy a new cooker. I asked him to repair it and, within 30 minutes, we had a functioning oven which, fingers crossed, will last for another couple of years. What a relief.
I felt like a character in a Fairy Tale, where someone is presented with an impossible task which they somehow manage to accomplish with a bit of magic, and some friendly helpers – such as my new hero, Blue Van Man!!