Seconds out, Round two!

This is a small part of what was necessary to change a light bulb at Rock HQ.

Steve came back today to solve the mystery of eternal darkness in the dining room. The lights have failed for the last year, sometimes working, most times plunging us into darkness halfway through our meals.

Tracey and I had dismantled Bethan's bedroom clearing it so the floor could come up in our quest to find the junction box pictured. Unfortunately this was not the source of the problem and several hours later Steve found some arcane instructions written in blue ink telling would be treasure hunters how to gain access to the ultimate prize for there under some more floor boards was another switch, a transformer, a fuse splitter thingy and lots of wires, solve the riddle of these and the path to eternal light, subject to paying the bills every month was ours for the taking!

We were up for the challenge, we had the kit, well Steve did, he looked like a Makita advert, in fact I thought he had Makita tattooed on his backside but it turned out it was his jeans label sticking up. I spent a lot of time either looking at or talking to Steve's backside today as he delved into the internal workings of Rock HQ.

All day I fought off the urges of reverse electricians tourettes syndrome, this is when I had the uncontrollable urge to scream in pain every time Steve asked me to turn a switch on or off.

After much moving furniture, lifting and replacing of floor boards Steve still only had three out of four lights illuminated. The pressure was on, his reputation on the line. There was only one place left in the room to look, the last section of floor, we removed the protective hardboard panel, and there in the same blue scroll were more instructions, the final piece of the puzzle. Under the board was another set of switches, transformers and weird electrical stuff all replicating the work of the previous set and all as confused as Steve as to why they were there. A few deft cuts of wire and suddenly we had four lights in the dining room. Steve had triumphed over the electrical puzzle left by the nice man we had bought the house off.

We stood in the dining room staring in wonder at the four bright white lights. I was so overcome with emotion I played with the switch, savouring the on off on off so absent from Rock HQ. Steve slowly packed his gear.

"Well" I cheerfully mused, "at least the nice man who sold us the house didn't put the central heating in" I confidently tapped the shiny brass pipework by the Rayburn "Cos if its the same as the electrics, phew imagine that!"

Steve stopped and looked at me, the look said it all.

"He did didn't he" I said suddenly filled with dread looking at the pipes expecting them to explode.

"I'll get my coat" said Steve and he hurried off.

He didn't want to see a grown man cry