I was hoping things would get better after Wednesday central heating problems, but no. Friday the wife missed the bus to work, I had been reluctant to take her in as the van had just been cleaned for a customer viewing later in the day and I did not want to get it covered in all the road grime you get on these cold frosty days. So I ended up taking her into work and on the way home I have to travel through a large set of traffic lights which is busy at the best of times but currently the lights are being replaced so there are lane closures and long delays. On the section of road I approach the lights, there are two lanes but about 100mtrs from the lights the inside lane is closed off. Everybody is in the outside lane, I am slowly moving forward when I catch sight of a car coming up the inside lane, I am now just short of the cones and signs closing the inside lane as the car passes me and then just turn right in front of me having realised that he could get no further up the inside lane. My front bumper met his rear wheel, resultant damage to both vehicles is mostly scratched paint and bumpers. So the customers got to see the van all nice and clean complete with a custom bumper job!!
Saturday I went out for a ride over the local heath, still building myself up after the several weeks of no riding. The ride itself was nothing spectacular, made it up a hill which I have targeted as one of the hills I need to beat although I was a gasping wheezing wreck at the top. It was nice to be able to get home and not have to wash the bike as the ground was so frozen although thinking about it I would of been unable to wash the bike as the hose was frozen!! I digress. Anyway the wife had gone shopping so I came home to an empty house. When I put the bike round the back of the house I noticed that the back door step was wet, which seemed strange since everything else was frozen and it was dry when I left. I went back round to the front door and let myself in. I then headed through the house toward the back door so I could go and lock the back gate. When I opened the utility room door I was greeted by a lake of water on the floor, it could of only come from the washing machine or the washing machine plumbing.
I called the wife and informed her of the problem and suggested she curtailed her shopping trip to come and help with the bailing out. Once out of my cycling gear, I realised that the puddle was not getting any bigger so what ever was leaking had stopped (or run out of water). The washing machine had been on but had now finished its cycle. That meant that either a pipe on the washing machine had split or the waste. outlet had sprung a leak. The wife arrived back home as I finished clearing the washing machine so I could move it out and get to the pipework. I started to pour some water down the waste pipe which quickly overflowed onto the floor. I gave it 5 minutes to run a ways and then pour some hot water down the waste pipe, this started to backup but then suddenly cleared. The waste pipes runs round the side of the house and under the back door, sometime ago the bracket holding the waste pipe under the door broke so there was a slight sag in the middle of the pipe. I guess that water was sitting in the pipe and overnight Friday and Saturday morning it froze. A temporary repair has been made the hold the pipe up so that it maintains the run to the drain and does not hold any more water.
While the rest of the country woke up to snow this morning, all we woke up to was wet rain soaked roads and a rise in temperatures. So this morning ride was a mud fest, although there were still some frozen bits hidden in deep puddles which made things interesting. I did a Throop loop but it was only a short loop as my legs were feeling it a long with a another problem\injury I am plagued with, so I decided not to push it and headed for home.
I am hoping for a quiet weeks this coming week, some how I don’t think I will get one.
Looking at Met Office for Sundays forecast is showing rain so I may not do the ride. 
