This weeks desktop.



Mr. Rod Serling. Producer, writer and actor.

You must have heard of his television series' "The Twilight Zone" and "Night Gallery". If you haven't, then you can just go and bugger off, because obviously we have nothing to talk about. Rod Serling wrote many screenplays, including those for two stone classic movies: "Planet Of The Apes" and "Seven Days In May".

Actor? As the Narrator/Host of both "The Twilight Zone" and "Night Gallery" he was always an immaculately attired, urbane figure, with a cigarette in hand, distinctive voice and a slightly sinister, mocking air about him. It was a performance. It was a great performance.

Rod Serling died in 1975 during open heart surgery. He was only 50 years old. I was shocked when I read that. Such a waste. All those stories never told.

Rod Serling. Still a legend.

**

It took two plumbers to sort out the problem with the radiator.

Plumber #1 was sent by Homeserve, a company with whom we have a contract for limited internal plumbing support. Plumber #1 arrived in a car with a loud horn, that collapsed in the street as soon as he pulled up. He had a big red nose and wore large shoes. On his lapel he had a flower that squirted water.

Yes. He was a clown.

He could not isolate the radiator. He could not shut off the flow of the water to the radiator. He could not do anything. He suggested certain things, which would have cost additional money and involved shutting off the water to the whole house and leaving us without any heating. I said "No", sent him on his way and complained to the nice lady on the Homeserve help desk. We will not be renewing the contract.

I found Plumber #2 in the Yellow Pages. It was a random selection. A company that looked like they had a few certifications awarded to them. Difficult to know if they mean anything.

Plumber #2 arrived. He isolated the radiator. He took the radiator off the wall and drained it. We discussed getting a new radiator installed on a different wall and he gave me a quote. We had a cup of tea and discussed the prospects for the Villa and the Blues this season. I paid him. We shook hands. He left. He was in the house for about an hour.

Plumber #2 was a star. We will definitely use him again.

I am at home. I am waiting for a plumber.

7 months after the radiator in the kitchen sprang a leak, the one in the bathroom decided to do the same. It was not too much of a leak. Luckily we caught it before the bathroom floor became too wet.

The radiators are old. We have not done anything to upgrade them. Things corrode, break down and fall apart. (The thermostat on the cooling fan on the cooker also broke down on Saturday. Not a disaster. We just switch the cooker off at the plug when we are not using it.) It is to be expected. Time marches on.

We have not done anything replace the radiator in the kitchen. No replacement is desperately needed. Once the immediate problem is fixed, Jennifer has an idea to replace the radiator in the bathroom with a tall radiator; the kind you can put several towels on simultaneously to dry. She wants the new radiator to be installed on a different wall. Behind the door, rather than beneath the airing cupboard. I have no problem with that, but it will be the short end of the wedge. Jennifer will eventually want to replace all of the radiators. I know that we are going to have to do that at some point, but I certainly do not want us to spend the money until we have to.

Pain in the arse. All of it.

**

Somewhere along the way I stopped writing about movies. Blame lack of time and lack of interest. I am still keeping a list of the movies I see at the cinema. Words about them will follow, at some point, but not today.