The heating has now been fixed, and the radiators are, happily, working well. The engineer says that the boiler has a bad service record and wasn’t a great model even when it was installed, let alone ten years later. If it were his choice, he’d get a new one. You could argue he would say this, but in his next breath he recommended that if I decide to change it a local plumber may be cheaper. I’m getting a quote tomorrow, although that’s some serious expense and I really doubt I’ll be able to afford it.

Speaking of expense, a new aerial suitable for digital broadcasts is apparently ~£200 on its own, excluding any fitting costs. So perhaps not. I’m looking at freesat from Sky¹ as a cheaper option, and have emailed the housing association to find out whether they allow mini-dishes on the side of their buildings.

It’s so nice to be back on broadband Can catch up on my podcasts, now.

1. not to be confused with Freesat from the BBC and friends, which hasn’t launched yet, and may be as late as christmas 2006 [↩]