Roads to Joy

When the power flicked off, right in the middle of the bread baking, we thought it was probably a valley-wide outage. But no, the special indicator light showed me that power was still coming in to the house; actually the domestic RCD switch had tripped out.

We wondered, as you do, what could have set it off, but after finishing the bake, we discovered what it had been: the element in the fan oven had bit the dust at last.

Now we bought the Rangemaster 110 a decade ago from a house renovation over in Cumbria, and it was said to be in perfect condition. As if. By the time we replaced the wok hob ring, and the unworking fan, and the leaking gas pipe, it was. Still a bargain, and a sturdy work-horse thereafter, but for one crucial element, it was time to give up the ghost.

For each of these repairs, I’d availed myself of the eBay catalogue, and every time I’d been delighted with the result. Could the same thing be achieved for the ageing heating element? Well, yes. Yes it could, and the part is even now being shipped out to us. It had taken me a few anxious moments to reach the big reveal and to expose the faulty element, but by the time I’d taken a couple photos, and received word back from the friendly eBay seller that their part was indeed a like-for-like replacement, I was smiling.

This morning I awoke with a nagging worry that the three screws holding the element in place might be badly corroded, and as such could give me real grief when I come to dismantle the thing. A spray bottle of penetrating oil is now on its way to us too.

I love the big reveal, when the resolution of the problem is presented to the enquirer like a piece of cake on a plate. When by careful assessment you can figure out the issue and how to resolve it. That particular joy is almost as great as the joy when the offending item is fixed and the appliance is working again, as good as new.

Almost, but not quite. That joy is yet to come.