Does Bad Luck Come In Threes?

Hi, So it all started with being told to self isolate and not to go outside at all in a letter from the NHS and then a phone call from my doctors. I eventually got the food delivery situation sorted out but it was a close thing as my budgie was next on the menu, after that I had planned on eating my neighbours, not such a bad idea as it would cut down on the Christmas cards I have to buy later this year. The only problem is that when I moved here both the Gas and Electric meters were the type that have to be topped up by going to the shop, putting credit on the top up card and then putting the card in the meter. I know, I know, I can hear you all saying, “Are you communicating from the past, Is it 1964 where you live?” Look, the system works well for me, I top up credit more than I need to and come the cold weather I never have to worry about having the central heating on day and night. Because I could not go out to top up my card and had no one who could do it for me I rang the supplier who I paid over the phone and they sent me pre-credited cards with the warning not to put the card in till the Electricity or Gas actually ran out. Worked fine with the Electricity but on Friday the Gas ran out for the first time.

I put the card in and it registered the new £50 credit. All is Good in my World. Saturday morning no gas supply. I rang the supplier who sent round a man. The meter was faulty so he had to replace meter. Luckily he was able to transfer my credit onto the new meter. All is mostly OK in My world. Sunday morning no gas supply. Gas man came back. Apparently it was a refurbished meter so it had to be reset which was done. All in My World is looking a bit washed out grey now. The gas man said “Have you noticed that hole by the side of the meter, well it’s a live rat hole. A rat has dug down there, you can tell its live because there’s a couple of flies buzzing round the hole and you can see the marks in the soil where they run in and out” All in My World has just turned to dust and with the bitter tears of fear I am crying making little mud pies in My world. I am terrified of Rats from a bad episode when I was young. To this day I cannot read Wind In The Willows without fainting with fear. Monday morning, no gas supply. Rang supplier, man came, changed meter again this time with new meter. Could not transfer my £50 credit over from faulty meter so left me £10 emergency credit on new meter and I would have claim back the £50 from the supplier. All is..... pretty damn awful in My World. Thursday morning The Rat Man came. He told me it’s not that a rat has tried burrowed into my kitchen from the garden, but the hole is near my kitchen drain which must have broken underground so sewer rat(s) have dug up from the drain to find food. MY world now consists of me locking and barricading the kitchen door in case they break in, closing and locking all the widows so they cannot get in plus I’m contemplating going to live in my car till this gets sorted out. My ex wife number1 has a nice little hedgehog that lives in her garden, other people have cute bunnies or the occasional fox in the garden. Not me. My garden is a portal for sewer rats to make their way into the neighbourhood. I fully expect to find a Cross and the words Plague House painted in red on my front door.

I’ve now been told I have to have a camera put in the drain to assess the work required before they do anything about the drain or the rats - does bad luck come in threes or what?

Alain