Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

"Before you disappear into the office this morning," asked Jill, "could you sort that floorboard out, please?" This was a thirty-second job which I had put off for months. We were reminded about that annoying floorboard, wobbling and sitting a millimetre or two proud, every time we almost tripped over it. Jill was on a mission today, oiling those ancient wooden boards, so now it was time to sort it out. One single, solitary nail. That's all it needed.

What wasn't needed was for the nail to be driven smartly through the central heating pipe running under the floor. So that's why it hadn't been nailed down by the joiner...

Panic ensued. The section of floor was hastily ripped up - remember this is beautiful, ancient wooden flooring we're talking about - and Jill plunged headlong into the high-pressure jet of water to try to stem the flow. I ran around turning off the water, and trying to remember where the drain tap was, then looking for a hosepipe to connect to it, then looking for the tool to open it. Jill clearly believed she had the more difficult part of the job, and so her protests grew louder...

When everything had calmed down, and we were having a giggle about it that evening, we reflected on one of the best things about living in our village. We needed a plumber - I'm not very well practised at soldering pipes, and it seemed Jill wasn't in the mood for trusting me with the job - and after a single phone call, Shaun was here within about 15 minutes. An hour later the system was refilled, and the new section of pipe was watertight. Frankly, he could have simply named his price - then perhaps doubled it by calling it 'an emergency'. We would have paid. But he shrugged, and asked for just a few pounds. We paid him more, even though he insisted on imposing the traditional 'building site' punishment for such a misdemeanour, and obliged me to hang the holed section of pipe around my neck for the rest of the day. Given that he had rescued us from disaster, it was a price I was very willing to pay.