A few weeks ago I moved to Manchester. Yesterday I had to abandon the apartment due to a small incident involving fire. Or more accurately, the boiler blowing up. The firemen tell me it looks like an electrical fault. Now for the full story -
I woke up and decided to have a shower. So I turned on the hot water and off I went. I was drying my hair when the fire alarm went off. Funny, I think. I’m not even cooking anything. I waved a towel in front of it and it stopped. Success! Or not. At this point I was stood next to the cupboard with the boiler in it and there was an almighty bang. So I opened it and got a lung full of smoke. I went and harassed the neighbors for help. By this time the building smoke alarm had gone off, and my apartment and the hallway were full of smoke.
The firemen turned up, sort the whole mess out and put me on an oxygen mask for a while. They were really nice guys. The boiler needs replacing, so with no hot water I have fled Manchester and have taken over my fiancé’s parents house while they’re on holiday.
At least I have the internet back for a while. I think I was beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms. And it was an interesting way to meet the neighbors.
I’m meeting my neighbors on Friday. My new flat is in a small town; no cable, so no internet by cable and no cable TV. A pity: sad as it sounds, AXN and Canal 13 tend to be the best options. Heck, sometimes MTV is the best option. I can’t be bothered much with TV, really, but it’s good for keeping Mom off my hair. She knows the dialogue to half the episodes of Columbo and Murder She Wrote by heart.
DSL? That would mean getting a landline phone, which I don’t otherwise need. There is only one landline plug in the flat: at some point it got painted over so thoroughly that it would have to be replaced. That means Telefónica - UGH! Since I don’t want to bore you to tears, let me just cut a very long story short by indicating that in the last 8 years I’ve had only one positive interaction with Them. One of their techs got so far as to ask me who my dealer was and what color the pills were. No. I do not want Them in my house if I can help it.
So, Internet by Radio. Doesn’t reach the village yet, but the antenna is going up next month. Hopefully. The base for the antenna is up, they just need to add a dish to the same huge antenna already used for TV and radio. And I’d have to get a receiving antenna on my roof. It’s pretty small, but I have to ask permission from the neighbors.
So the first view most of them will get of the new neighbor will be as “this snob girl who wants permission to stick a new antenna on the roof because she can’t be bothered use DSL like some other neighbors already have”. I hope I do get it, but may not. We’ll see. I so hate having to ask for permission.
You surely know how to get introductions with a bang
The neighbours were in underwear. Three rather sexy guys.