Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Plumbing

Tomorrow is the start of Eid al Fitr, we wish all our Muslim readers a good festival.

As I said last night, Little Barbara came to play yesterday. Actually, she's not quite as little as she used to be, she seems to have had a growth spurt. She's grown about 10cm (4 inches) since Easter. Perhaps I should start calling her "Young Barbara" instead.

Anyway... last week the plumber start chatting about her visit and what he should tell her. He wanted to talk about the different types of piping, (steel, copper, flexible, uPVC, etc.) and the different sizes, (16cm, 25cm, 32cm, etc.) and what they were all used for - all in highly technical detail. I pointed out that, while she's a smart kid, (and she's a very smart kid), she is still a kid and that might be just a bit too much for her. (A reader asked last week how old she was - I hadn't realised I'd never mentioned that - for those who wondered she'll be 9 soon). He thought about it and trimmed his opening chat to the basics - "We use 3 types of pipe depending on what they're for, in 3 sizes. Today we're using uPVC in a size called 16cm." - I said that was perfect.

Barbara and her mother arrived mid-morning. Barbara had dressed in her imitation overalls and toy hard-hat. The plumber gave his little speech, showed Barbara what sort of pipe it was and we wandered over to the house shell where we would be working as Barbara's mother headed off to go shoe shopping.

The plumber showed Barbara the different push-fit joints we would be using, only two - elbows and straights, we weren't doing any t-joints or reducers. We use John Guest Speedfit on site. They're light, quick, and easy for even a kiddie to fit cleanly. She had a go at joint two bits of pipe with a straight joint and was thrilled when they held. Pretty quickly she was whacking those pipes together like a professional. We decided to get more technical.

The plumber showed her a plastic-pipe cutting-tool and how to use it. Barbara has a couple of attempts on a piece of waste material. Then we let her measure and the cut a couple of pieces (with him checking her measurements and telling her the golden rule - measure twice, cut once).

She did a grand job. Made a straighter, cleaner cut than I would have. (I'm notorious for never being able to get a straight edge on a pipe at the first attempt). I told her she'd done a better job than me. She was thrilled.

She was doing so well that we promised her that after lunch she could try some flexible, metal, tap-connectors - with a spanner (wrench). I had a spanner, that I don't use any more, with big enough jaws to fit the tap nut but light enough and with a narrow enough handle for her to be able to use. Though the plumber would have to do the final tightening.

She was so excited that she could barely sit still long enough to eat her sandwich. And, as usual, she was talking nineteen-to-the-dozen the entire time.

After lunch she did just that - fitted both the hot and cold taps in the downstairs cloakroom of the house we were working on. We chose the loo because the basin was small, easy to reach, and could be worked on without crawling into cupboards or under baths.

She was so damn' proud of herself. She'd fitted most of the simple cold-water pipe for the house, and a pair of taps.

At around 3pm her mother came to collect her. We presented her with her certificate as a trainee plumber's mate. And the plumber gave her a trophy - two small pieces of pipe, joined with a straight connector, glued to a set of little wooden supports. She hugged him. He blushed bright red. Then she hugged me. Then she skipped away with her mother - still talking - telling her all about the different plumbing fixings.

Oh yeah - I let her keep the spanner.

See you next week. Goodnight and may your God/s go with you.


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