The weather here continues to be dull, dreary, dismal. We’ve had copious amounts of fog, even freezing fog, black ice, clouds, rain… What we haven’t had is a sunny day in goodness knows how long. Ok, I know it’s only January, but how long can this continue? Even when I was in full-time employment I didn’t much care for January, or February for that matter. Christmas is over with, and there’s not much to look forward to until springtime and Easter. I’m religiously taking my vitamin D tablets, and others, though they do nothing for my mood.

My cold is into it’s second week now and is only just starting to abate. I still wake up coughing though not so much during the day now, and my voice is much better. My eczema has had a flare-up though I put that down to stress: we are close to the second week of not being able to use the shower. This is the third time in 20 months that we’ve been unable to use the shower! One time it actually broke down and it was 7 working days before we had a new one installed, then it was out of action for 2 days because the pull cord switch broke, now it’s been nearly 2 weeks due to a leak. The plumber, and I, had hoped for a quick fix by renewing the bath seal, and renewing some tile grout. That is until a tile fell off the wall and revealed rotting plasterboard underneath. Days later a builder came out, another tile fell off, and he determined that the whole wall of tiles has to be removed, including the sink, and the plasterboard, and the whole wall re-done. He also determined that the living room ceiling needs to be re-done which involves taking off the paper and effecting a repair. It seems excessive to me bearing in mind it might only be a small patch of plasterboard that has rotted away. The builder came out more than a week ago, and nothing has been done yet.

The most annoying thing? This has clearly happened before: I pointed out the damaged ceiling when we moved in so that the agent knew that I knew the damage was there beforehand. Nothing was done, no investigation as to why the ceiling under the bathroom was damaged. I also pointed out the rotting door frame on the back door; again, nothing was done about it. I’ve filled in a hole, on the inside of the frame, as I’m sure this was how slugs were getting in, and since then, which was months ago, no slugs in the kitchen.

I did raise a complaint, to the office manager about the ongoing bathroom issues but received a very terse, curt response. Basically, we can use the bath so we can bathe so they don’t much care. The fact that the house was advertised as having a working shower is of no concern, and we can put up and shut up. Honestly, we paid hundreds of pounds to this agency before we moved in, and it’s the worst rental I’ve ever had the misfortune to live in. The previous 2 were private rentals and whilst they weren’t perfect, between them both there were less problems than we’ve had here.

Recently, a tile came tumbling off the one-storey kitchen roof. Well, I’ll be d*mned if I’m going to report it unless or until the ceiling starts to leak. We had a builder in not long after we moved in, to replace some of the tiles and he stated the whole roof needs doing. We’re at a point now where I don’t want to report any faults as I’m concerned the landlady will start to raise the rent to cover her losses, or worse, ask us to leave because we’re being ‘troublesome.’ Anybody who believes renters have rights is in serious denial; there are many quite legal ways to get rid of a tenant and there’s nothing you can do about it. A house move now could prove disastrous to my son’s final year at uni, so we can’t do anything about it for fear of being asked to leave. What fun life is at the moment.

My son is working hard, trying to get ahead in his work for when, or even if, the bathroom repairs start. I’m escaping into SciFi series as it takes my mind, even if only briefly, off the issues here. Roll on graduation, and hopefully being able to leave this area, and England too for my mind. Can’t wait to escape back to Wales. I’ve lived in the Midlands before, for 3 years, and didn’t care for it then, and still don’t care for it. The only reason we’re here is because Wales had little to offer regarding the course that my son wanted to do. The uni nearby is very nice, lovely facilities, and has staff that actually seem to like what they’re teaching. Institutes in Wales could learn from this…

Enjoy the weekend.