electrifying

The day started with rain which quickly (and strangely in these global warming times),changed to snow. It failed to settle and changed back to rain before finally giving-up around lunchtime. I had arranged for our friendly electrician Steve to complete his electrical transformation of the house, started months ago. Lynne had arranged to visit friends in London for the day (as you do)and left me in charge. Steve and his workmate quickly replaced the last remaining dodgy multipoint in the living room with two legal twin power sockets and fitted two much needed twin sockets in the kitchen, before changing the previously one-way two-way light switches on the stairs to work as they should have done in the first place. We think the original wiring was done by a plumber. Once the outside intruder light was replaced and the wiring made safe all the electrics now comply with building regulations, probably for the first time since 1890. I spent last evening seeking alternative boat signwriting and/or decal quotes. Some are still due to arrive but the one that did undercut our current contractor by a considerable amount, which included travel from Northampton. I informed Mike, our current contractor, who was obviously amazed and embarrassed. He had already slashed his price by a third when we informed him his price was way beyond our budget but he quickly offered to match our alternative quote this morning, effectively HALVING his original price, to which I agreed. He explained he has an exclusive arrangement with MCC and pays them commission for all work undertaken, which says a lot. MCC confirmed he had told them his original price agreed with us was £100 less than it actually was. Playing both ends against the middle? I suspect both will lose out in this instance. Lesson learnt: never accept the first quote as competitive.