One of the cut-backs we’ve had to make in recent times has been to switch off our boiler and manage with no hot water. We’ve been rationing the few litres of oil we’ve had in the tank, heating a single tankful of hot water only when we’re desperate (by desperate, read job interview).

There are things to be thankful for though. Today we’ve got hot water coming out of our taps. Since we found the oil we’ve been able to switch back on the boiler and carry out our ablutions with gay abandon. It’s funny how something that has only become an expected standard in a house in the last 60-70 years or so seems like such a hardship to give up. It just goes to show how far (western) human expectation has moved in a very short time.

We’ve both also applied for other jobs today too…sooner or later…

You'd think with my happiness at the water situation I'd be a happy bunny but I’m actually busy getting a reputation as a ball-breaker. We're trying to do something to get us out of the cacky and the people we’ve asked to help us with this task are not fulfilling their role as well as they should be. I suppose I can’t blame them – for them, we’re just small players in the cut and thrust of their daily life but for us, it’s as close as we’ve ever been to a matter of life or death. So, when they don’t deliver what they’re supposed to, I tell them it’s not good enough and DM stands behind me egging me on! (He’s too polite to play the “bad cop”.)