Wet carpets

Few things are more annoying than walking across a wet patch of carpet with your socks on. Unfortunately the caravan has been suffering a water leakage and it took a fair bit of detective work to find out where it was coming from. The wet area was around the fridge and spreading to the back bathroom area so initially I thought it was coming from the fridge. I turned the fridge off and and placed an oil heater on the carpet as an attempt to avoid damp or delamination from occurring. But still the carpet was wet. An examination of the pipes in the kitchen and bathroom sinks showed no leakage.

Removing the fridge was a challenge. There are four screws inside that needs removing and a flu attachment behind that needs disconnecting and this involves removing the external air vents. The fridge is connected to a copper gas pipe and I didn't want to remove this pipe since re-attachment can only be done by a qualified gas engineer. I was however able to remove the fridge about half a foot and this gave me some view to the floor from the external vent outlet. I could see a puddle to the side of the fridge facing the kitchen sink. A closer examination of the red hot water hose towards the floor revealed this to be the source of the offending wet carpet. The jubilee clip attaching the lower end of the pipe to the upper end was loose. Tightening this solved the issue. I suspect the van now has some water ingress damage. I left a fan heater blowing at the area all night - hopefully this has dried the wood sufficiently.

These sort of things this time of year can be a challenge. I still have to reseal the air vents but at least the inside of the van is dry and comfortable again. In the past I would have called the landlord to come and fix the apartment.

Few things are quite so nice as being dry and warm inside a caravan while the wind thunders outside with the madness of insanity itself. And few things are quite not so nice as cycling through the wind and rain each morning and evening. It's a bit of an effort in the morning to leave the caravan. There is some hesitancy - the same sort of hesitation before diving into a cold swimming pool. But once on the bicycle and working the pedals I soon slip into that zone of meditation the cyclist enjoys. To be on the move, and to be one with the forces of nature, and to be balanced upright by the stability of gyroscopic wheels: it's all very good. My only concern this time of year is with drunk drivers. Alcohol testing vans are rarely seen here in England - so not all who pass you on the road are sober.

And the broken exhaust pipe on the Ford Transit van was replaced. The only place I could find to do this job in this area was a car service chain called Kwik Fit. I have heard some horror stories about this group but they seemed to have done a good job and have guaranteed the work for three years. This set me back 220 pounds but vehicles, whether old or new, cost money; as my sister wisely advised.

Peace