I’ve just experienced my first real flat-related emergency. The radiator leaked. All over the living room carpet. This was a disaster waiting to happen, as there’d apparently been a tiny leak to the flat below for a while, but my plumber and the downstairs landlord hadn’t been able to communicate efficiently enough to get it looked. So my brand new boiler conked out (again) and then this happened…

Fun, isn’t it! Luckily, because my boiler was new when I moved in, the water was clean (apart from that rusty bit around the pipe) so when this dries, it shouldn’t be too bad. Most of the ’staining’ is just where it’s wet, rather than dirty. On the upside, I do now have a boiler that works and radiators that have been freshly bled. On the downside I have a sofa and table out of action, and a tiny fan heater sucking up electricity as it dries this carpet in sections.

I’m currently taking votes on how long it’ll take for the whole thing to dry out completely. I’m going with four days. You?