Because plumbing should be...

No DIY?

Not for me! Lol!

.............without a paddle ;-))

That's right, terrible predicament!

Names like this always perplex me. Is there somewhere a business called Unaffordable Plumbing and Drain Cleaning? The Nadir Corporation? Bad Eats? That seems to be implied, but I have never seeen a business name like that. I think something is being kept from us.

There is probably an entire highway somewhere that has all of those businesses in a row. You know, like the places in every city with all of the car dealerships. Ugly Haircuts, Knock-n-Leak Auto Repair, Outdated Home Decorating, Ill-fitting Shoes...things like that.

In The Fall and Rise of Reggie Perrin , a wonderful BBC comedy from years ago (Jesus, how old I’ve become!) Reggie opens a shop called Grot selling worthless items at very high prices. It’s a great success of course. There must be places like that, it’s a great concept.

Oh, so that explains the word grot. We don't use it, but I've seen it used by one or two of your countrymen. Which usage came first?

There are shops like that. Here, semi-old, useless things are called "collectibles." Betty's Collectibles 'n' Things.

Cheer up, Steve. I remember Hancock's Half-Hour .

Is "grot" related to "grotty"? That's a word you occasionally see in print here, though I can't remember hearing it in speech. There used to be a North American word, "grody" that meant "grotty". Perhaps they are related. I think we should be told.

Target might have done better in Canada if they'd branded themselves as the Empty Shelf Store. People would have been less disappointed.

I haven’t looked it up, but “grotty” was definitely a Liverpudlian idiom around the time of the Beatles.

Sunglasses called "vicinity." That's just weird. Grody, that sounds familiar...ah, here we are: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grody - dirty, disgusting, etc., but briefly popularized by its use in the song "Valley girl."

Some of us still use grody-- ;)

Well, OK, then. Just don't add "to the max!"

I have a blockage that the plunger just won't shift (and I don't mean my personal plumbing).
If I call that number, how long before someone pops round and would it be affordable do you think?

When hell freezes over. Hey, don't shoot the messenger!

I've seen it commented that the ultimate recession-proof business is plumbing. _Nobody_ puts off a call to the repairman when it's not working! The electrical (and, these days, the cable) can't be far behind--