ANOTHER PUB ( that I haven't been in )

This is The Strawberry. It is opposite St James Park home of Newcastle United and it has football memorabilia from the club on display throughout.

So I was at the match today. We played Reading. We lost.... at home.... again. We needed 3 points but got none. Things are getting rather desperate at the moment. The crowed were even booing at the end. Mostly at the Managers choice of substitutions I think and also the poor show put on by Newcastle in the 2nd half. Hope some new players get bought soon to bolster the team and get us back to winning ways. And apart from all that our Captain wants to go back to Argentina.

It was pretty chilly at the match and at times there was snow and sleet to add to the discomfort. No matter how wrapped up I am I still get chilled to the bone sitting watching the match. As it was cold I treated myself to the " Match Day Special" at half time.... a Cumberland Sausage Bap. Well it wasn't much of a treat but at least it was hot and filling.

I popped in to M & S after the match for some bread and then got the bus home. Bus was around 15 mins late - probably due to the road conditions. Loads of snow about still.

So that was my day. But the end of yesterday is worth a mention too.

At around 2am before going to bed I went into the utility room to set the timer for the heating to come on in the morning. I noticed the display was showing an Error Code --- E133. I checked the tap - no hot water... boiler not working. So I looked in the manual to see what to do. It just said to turn the boiler and then reset. Tried that - no joy. Next step in the manual..... phone the engineer.

So I imagined no hot water in the morning and no heating and then no point in calling an engineer as I would be out at the match and Neil would be at work. Dilemma.

So I decided to look on the internet for info. The general consensus was that Error 133 was caused by the condenser pipe being frozen if it was located outside. My pipe is outside and there is quite a lot of pipe running along the ground from the outlet to the drain. So I realised that this was what the problem was. The solution given was to pour hot water over the pipe till it unfroze. Obviously I had no hot water from the tap so I boiled a kettle and wearing my nightie and dressing gown I went out into the back garden and poured the hot water over the pipe. Tried to reset the boiler but still nothing happened. 2 more kettles of water and then.... Bingo. The boiler kicked into action and the error code disappeared. Whew.... was I glad.

With all this faffing about outside, looking on the internet etc it was now 4am. But at least I knew... well I hoped... that we would have hot water and heating in the morning. I knew everything was OK when I heard Neil having a bath at 8am. I'm just glad that in the end it was something I could sort out myself. The offending pipe was lagged with proper stuff but there were a few gaps where the lagging was loose so I have temporarily put some bubble wrap around it and when I get the chance I will replace the lagging.