At the weekend I had to rip the plug out of the bath as the piping was blocked and it's impossible to undo the u-bend fixings. The people who build our house obviously liked using some sort of pluming putty that sets like concrete and thus makes any sort of maintenance impossible. The result is the only way to get the u-bend off is to remove the plug fixings, which had helpfully threaded themselves.
The upshot of all of this was I had to go to Homebase and get a new plug housing and new u-bend. In retrospect I've got no idea how the design works as it just looks fundamentally flawed. So after installing it all on Sunday and leaving the silicon sealant to dry it wasn't until Monday night that I had the opportunity to test it all; it leaked like a sieve.
I was really quite annoyed as the packaging said only a spanner required, but failed to mention the size of the required spanner or the fact that you couldn't buy one of the required size in Homebase. The upshot was that I had to go to Travis Perkins first thing on Tuesday morning and buy a £30 pipe snapper that had enough of a jaw opening and large enough jaws to get round the plastic base nut.
So I stripped the whole plug unit out of the bath and took all the sealant off in the preparation for another go. When I say I just took it out, it took over an hour as the base nut had jumped a thread and I just couldn't get it undone. I ended up having to stick a couple of screwdrivers down the plughole to give leverage and stopping the unit spinning. I manage it in the e3nd, but there was much swearing and cursing going on.
So I slapped even more sealant on the bit the instructions said and tightened the whole unit up. Again we had to wait until it had all dried before using it, which was Wednesday morning, and lo and behold it was still leaking, this time from around the base nut. I was seriously not impressed and it was around this time that I was starting to realise that the product was a pile of shite and I should have got something Ridgeons instead.
So I removed the baser nut and the bottom flexible washer and slapped a load more sealant over it all and screwed it back on as tight as I could without totally knackering the base nut. Again a days wait for the sealant to dry and I tested it all this morning, lo and behold the main plug unit is not water tight, although the overflow pipe is leaking due to the abysmal design of the thing.
So on Saturday I'm going to slap a load more sealant around the overflow pipes and then hopefully it will all be fine. I just hope it doesn't get blocked again as there's so much sealant on the thing I'm not sure I'll be able to get it all off.
So it was a bit on the sad side to be blogging while in the pub, but I had to do it at least once... This is just a quick note to say what beers I drank and what I though of them. I should really have drunk them all a bit slower as I was a bit tipsy upon leaving to go home.
I started with a pint of Landlord which was in fine form and is one of my favourite beers; you just don't get too see it on draft enough round here though. After that I tried a Summer Lightening which was really good too, although I do think it's more of a summer beer. It was strong, smooth and quite moreish, but it really needs a balmy summers evening to be at its best.
I then tried the Entire Stout which didn't disappoint; it was dark, roasted and utterly gorgeous. I can't remember then next one I had as it was off when I wrote the entry to my blog, what's worse is I can't remember what it tasted like either...
For my final pint I decided to try the Banks & Taylor Aragon, which I though was off. It had very strong apple notes, almost liker a Lambic beer and was really sharp, I asked the barman and he said that's what it's supposed to taste like and he said yes. Luckily he offered to replace it, so I got a pint of the Brewer's Gold, which was superb.
All in all it was a great wee trip to a pub that I don't get the chance to go to enough. Over all the beer was top notch; I'll have to try this Aragon stuff another time to see if it really is supposed to taste like that.
I'm currently standing in the Kingston Arms as it's Andy Heckford's birthday. I must say having free internet access in a pub is a bit strange as you could end up blogging while pissed, which might not be the best idea...
On the beer front the Kingston has the following ales on at the moment - Landlord (Timothy Taylor), Brewer's Gold (Crouch Vale), Entire Stout (Hopback), Black Dog (Elgoods), Summer Lightening (Hopback), Norman Conquest (Cottage Brewin Company), Aragon (Banks & Taylor) and Hereward Wake (Fenland).
I'll blog again to let you know what they tasted like, if I can remember. I can sy the Landlord if flipping marvelous and going down a treat, Summer Lightening next me thinks...
