Cold Heads and Hot Water

[major_clanger]

First day back at work, and I'm suffering from Icky Head - it feels like someones been pouring polyfilla into my sinuses. Makes a change from my normal habit of getting a cold only when I go on leave. Except that happened last week; how can I get a cold twice six days apart?

Looks like our power shower has been fixed. It's been misbehaving for a while lately, suddenly going very hot in the middle of a shower. I eventually got fed up enough to send in a fault report to the base accommodation office, and got a call this morning from the contract plumber asking when would be convenient for him to take a look. We agreed on 'in 5 minutes' so I took an early lunch break. After I described the symptoms he peered at the shower, thought a bit and then got out the ladder to look in the roof. After 10 minutes of plumbing noises he descended to inform me that, as he had suspected, there was nothing wrong with the shower itself. Rather, our cold water tank is very small and had a sticky ball valve, so wasn't filling properly. The shower runs off it, so now and again it was just running dry half-way through a shower. He'd fixed the valve so with any luck we won't have this problem again (but bugshaw and I shouldn't both have really long showers one after the other).

And I've just had the amusing experience of watching two old colleagues of mine representing the RAF on University Challenge: The Professionals, where the Light Blue Team beat the Hitting Rocks With Hammers Team. bugshaw had the amusing experience of watching me yell "Gibbs!", "Saturn!" and other sundry answers interspersed with scurrilous anecdotes about the team members in question...

MC

Comments

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Ah! Is it coincidence that you, green_amber and I all have colds, just over a week after Eastercon? I think not! My cold seems to be slightly less advanced - perhaps a day or two - than either of you two, but I wonder who infected you?? Yours must be a different strain from the last one that you had, anyhow.

Reasonably good news about the shower, then...

`Rocks with hammers' - miners, or the Army? :-)

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

"Rocks with hammers" was the British Geological Society.

My favourite bit was when major_clanger pointed at one of the RAF team and said "That guy is such a nerd! He makes me look like not-a-nerd!" (and then proceeded to completely out-nerd him).

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

BGS - of course! Was there a Royal Astronomical Society team (horrible thought :-)?

and then proceeded to completely out-nerd him

Aren't they sweet when they do that? :-)

Actually, I can hear Mein Host squeaking out that very protest - and see myself doing the whole out-nerding thing, too :-)

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

There's an online table of teams and results from which it seems that there are no astronomers, alas - the nearest bunch would seem to be the Royal Meteorological Society.

Hmm, it looks like someone with a sense of humour arranged some of the team pairings. House of Commons vs Journalists should be fun, and as for Clergy vs Lawyers...

MC

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Arguably, the Geologists are just as close, since the Royal Astronomical Society includes Geophysicists.

House of Commons vs Journalists should be fun

You will report back for those of us who miss it? :-)