A grey overcast, windy and damp start to the day, but the weather deteriorated as it went on. The Palace has announced that King Charles has cancer and is receiving treatment for it. This was discovered while in hospital for a prostate operation, but the cancer is unrelated, and so far undisclosed. It's admirable that he's being so open about these health issues, making this a matter of public interest so that he can encourage others to get themselves diagnosed if they have any health worries. Sadly, no amount of exhortation can make up for the shortage of medical and nursing staff, and the woeful lack of co-ordination in some areas when it comes to ensuring treatment processes are as efficient as they need to be.
The roofers arrived early-ish, only to discover that one of the Velux windows was smashed in its box, and the other had a part missing. They got on with small tasks while they waited for replacements. I got on with making several new pages for Sway, and checking content with the informants. Clare's study group arrived for a session, while I worked in the front room. Then I cooked lunch.
We had a hairdressing appointment with Chris, so Clare went on her own and I minded the house. The big back Velux window was carried up the stairs and installed without a hassle, but there wasn't enough time before dark to install the smaller front one. The roofers left at three thirty, and shortly after, I went out for a walk, first down the lane so that I could take a photograph of the back Velux installation from a distance. A big drop of rain fell on my camera, and the heavens started to open, so I returned home for rain trousers and brolly.
I was out for an hour and a half in a deserted park and got soaked. It rained non-stop for over six hours, and the wind blew to make things worse. Clare arrived from Chris's Salon, also soaked. When she went up to the main bedroom, she found water dripping fast from the ceiling on to the duvet, just like a burst pipe, except there are no water pipes in that part of upstairs. The attack room above was perfectly dry. Very odd. We did our best to remove mattress and duvet and installed several buckets. Clare sent an SOS call to the roofers, and within an hour the guy who had been installing the Velux window earlier arrived to inspect.
He figured out that water running off the roof was entering through a small gap at the edge of the place where the second Velux window would have been installed had it arrived on time. That gap, and the tile surfaces surrounding the opening would have been sealed off and waterproof, if the window had fitted. Water came in, ran along a beam across the ceiling and the came through at the lowest point in the centre. A coincidence of mishaps, with the foulest weather imaginable.
The guy had to go up on the roof in the dark and driving rain, spot the cause of the crisis, secure the area from the weather, then crawl into the rood space to check there were no other weak spots. All was well. Safe for the night. He told us that after leaving this afternoon he had driven to Bridgend for a job and was driving back Caerphilly where he lives when he got the SOS call from his boss. What a life!
With cracks appearing across the bedroom ceiling, it seemed prudent for Clare not to sleep there tonight, so a spare mattress on the lounge floor provided the alternative. She didn't fancy my bed. She finds it too uncomfortable.
After supper I started a load of bread dough and baked two loves of bread which were out of the oven just before bed time. In the meanwhile, I watched another couple of episodes of 'Bones', and tried no to think how much worse this could have been if Clare hadn't gone upstairs when she arrived home after two hours of wind and rain and discovered the leak.
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