So, plumbing new taps in bathroom. So far so good.
Discover pipework has no serviceman valves. Grrrr!
Shut off main to cold and isolate hot with stop-cock in airing cupboard. So far so good.
Remove rubbish tap and waste. So far so good.
Install new Bristan mixer tap and waste, bought 25 years ago for £27 instrad of £87. So far so good.
Cut old pipework to fit. So far so good.
Fit serviceman valves to hot and cold pipework. Now here's thing; why the effin' 'eck do they not put a pair of flats on the body of the serviceman valve so you can tighten one end with ease. Oh no! Too bloody easy. Seven-year-olds! I hate 'em. Use pipe grips and adjustable to tighten valves. Test valves, leave off and go to bed.
This morning, find pipe-bender in the dumping ground which my garage has become, salvage scraps of copper pipe from last job and head upstairs. So far so good.
Bend and cut pipe, fit to serviceman valves and tap tails. Reach for two adjustables. Now then, here's the other thing. With an adjustable in each hand my brain gets easily confused between 'righty tighty' in my right hand and 'righty tighty' in my left hand. Stop for sip of tea. So far so good. Pick up adjustables and my brain goes into meltdown. 'Righty tighty' has now become 'lefty loosy'. More tea needed.
Bring spaniards into view and stare at these devil's creations. Why the £¥(|< does the worm on one adjustable turn clockwise to tighten the jaws while the other one turns counter-clockwise to tighten the jaws. Isn't there some sort of universal law against this sort of thing? Some sort BS/EN/ISO Norm for this? There is for just about everything else on the planet.
So, as well as a million other things, I have now added a new set of matching adjustables in every conceivable size to my shopping list.
Is it just me?
Any road up, time to test the taps. Now obviously after 25 years in my junk pile, there was no way the glands were correctly adjusted and they peed merrily all over the place. Pick up adjustable spaniard and adjust (with great care and concentration) to fit the gland-nut. These are hightly polished chrome so I don't want to bugger the finish. Close gland-nut two flats. Slide spanner off flats and move it round two flats.
Now, here's the next bloody thing! Why on God's little green earth is it not possible to make a high-end piece of kit like a Bristan tap gland-nut so that the distance across the flats is the same for each pair of flats? This was obviously tendered out to the 9-year-olds, even 7-year-olds wouldn't do that.
The only upside to this is that I don't often use adjustables on the bike. And the new tap looks fabulous; I knew you were curious.
Rant over....for now!