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Do it for nothing revisited

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Saturday Morning Apocalypse

Saturday Morning Apocalypse (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I got to thinking yesterday
That things were going not my way
The many plans I had in store
Grew wings and flew out of the door!
It seems to happen frequently
As if my life was jinxed for me
But other times it goes quite well
Then pleasant stories I can tell.
So life does have its ups and downs
And I must never wear a frown
I’ll take each moment as it comes
And praise The Lord for what He’s done.

Copyright Shirley Anne 15 Sept 2004

 

Two days ago I wrote about people who seem to think I will do their jobs for next to nothing, I don’t but I do sometimes lower the price under certain circumstances, not my own but those for whom I am working. That however doesn’t happen often. Very rarely will I charge absolutely nothing for the work I have done. Surprisingly this past week I have earned more than I thought I would because few had called for my services. It goes that way sometimes. I haven’t been at my best health-wise as I explained in previous posts but I am beginning to return to normal so I was glad about that by the end of the week and the fact that I have been able to get back to work too. On Saturday morning I was driving to my electrical supplier in order to purchase some cable I needed for a job I am doing at home when I received a call from someone living in a nearby town asking if I could do some work. I don’t normally work for others at the weekend but I asked what the job entailed. The lady told me she had bought a replacement oven but the supplier told her that the circuit needed a power outlet as the old oven had been hard-wired to the supply without a switch. It sounded a reasonably easy task so I offered to do it for her as soon as I’d been to the supplier. I arrived there forty minutes later. I needed to remove the old oven to get access to the wiring which was easy enough but I discovered that it had been connected to the supply behind the built-in refrigerator. I inched out the fridge to see the connection box but it was buried in the plaster. I noticed what I thought was the cable supplying it and thought it best to simply cut it off (rather than have the problem of trying to remove the fridge) and redirect it to where I was to fit the switch whilst at the same time disconnecting the oven cable by cutting that off too.. I fitted the switch and made the connections but here was no supply when I switched it back on. To my horror I discovered I’d made a terrible mistake by cutting what I’d thought was the supply cable but it was in fact supplying a hidden power outlet and had been connected to the same box behind the fridge. I therefore had to remove the fridge in order to get at the connection box to undo my mistake. In any event I had to remove the fridge anyway in order to add another power outlet for the new oven as the original cable on the oven would not have been long enough to use to wire the new power outlet where it had to be sited. Still with me? It all sounds simple but in fact it was a bit of a nightmare after I’d gotten the fridge out of the way. Firstly it was well and truly wedged in place and had been fitted on a small piece of timber to raise it off the floor and then screwed in place. I finally managed to get it out and was then able to get at the connection point that also needed replacing. It had been plastered into the wall and was broken so it needed replacing anyway and that was another reason the fridge had to be removed. All this work to connect an oven that hadn’t yet been delivered! I soon had the electrical part of the work done once that fridge had been removed but when it came to putting it back it became a problem. First of all it was jam-packed with that much food it weighed heavily. Secondly it needed two people to replace it. Fortunately assistance came from a neighbour for the man of the house couldn’t help me as he had only recently come home from hospital after he had suffered a heart attack. It took us more than an hour to get the fridge back under the worktop and the guy helping me was a little frustrated because it had been so awkward. I was just grateful for his help. It was then I discovered that the floor covering had been damaged during the process of removing it. On reflection I perhaps should have placed something on the floor but it would have had to have been plywood, not something likely to be on hand. That was the last straw for I had been there almost four hours doing a job that normally would have taken a little over one hour and to be frank I’d just about had enough! Naturally I will be billed for a replacement floor covering but fortunately the floor area is small. It should be covered by my public liability insurance so it won’t come out of my own pocket unless there is a clause where I have to pay the first couple of hundred pounds. I have had the insurance since I started working for myself and have never yet had a reason to make a claim, neither has anyone else but accidents can happen at any time. I felt awful nevertheless having inconvenienced those I had been working for and for damaging their floor covering. Hopefully at least they will have their new oven soon and a new covering for the floor. I didn’t bother doing any work at home after that episode, it was far too late in the day.
Some days you know you should have stayed in bed!

Shirley Anne


Filed under: Electrical, Insurance Tagged: Electrical wiring, Electrical work, Kitchen, Liability insurance, Oven, Refrigerator

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