Thames Water: progress

Back in October last year, I reported an interchange with Thames Water about the leaking water meter below the pavement, outside our house. A meter which has been causing trouble off and on for more than twenty years.

Then, in November, I made what I thought was an appointment to have the meter replaced, certainly for the second time, perhaps for the third time. Various emails and texts turned up in the weeks that followed to remind me about this. While the large blue arrow marking the spot gradually faded away.

Then today, a helpful engineer turned up to tell me, after poking around for quarter of an hour or so, that the meter did indeed need to be replaced, and that I will be making another appointment in due course. In the meantime, what appears to be a considerable leak continues, with very little to show for it, either in the ground or anywhere else. Maybe the grass is a little greener than it might otherwise be.

Various comments along the way about Thames Water working practices.

[A picture worth a thousand words: he seems to be doing alright. Thames Water’s chief executive Chris Weston received a £195,000 bonus for three months’ work last year © Yui Mok/PA]

After which, I was interested to read the piece at reference 2, the source of the headshot above. It's always the punters that end up paying!

Another sample of the work of Yui Mok. From the wedding of British Prince Harry to American actress Meghan Markle, apparently massively retweeted at the time. For more of the same, see the curiously named reference 3.

PS 1: all of which reminds of the curious custom according to which royals around the world like to dress up as soldiers. And I suppose to be fair, quite a few of them do put some time in in uniform. As did, I now learn, Chris Weston. Royal Horse Artillery.

PS 2: Thursday morning: I phone the number provided by the helpful engineer. Oh no sir, You don't want me, you want the billing team. Let me pass you to them. Period of tedious music. Oh no sir, you have got the wrong date of birth. What about your last billing date? No idea. In that case, I can't help you. We appeared to have got to an impasse - despite my resorting to the NATO alphabet (for which see reference 4) for the communication of letters. But I shall now try my luck online.

PS 3: been online for more than quarter of an hour now and have yet to make real progress. But the chat is getting quite long, as can be seen from the slide bar at the bottom of the snap above.

PS 4: 10:30. I give up. Maybe I can persuade BH to sit on the phone for hours and get cross?

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/10/thames-water.html.

Reference 2: Thames Water plans to hike bosses’ pay in response to bonus caps: UK’s debt-laden utility warns it will raise salaries if bonus restrictions are enforced by regulator Ofwat - Gill Plimmer, Financial Times - 2025.

Reference 3: https://www.adorama.com/g/about-adorama. '... Adorama is a company for creatives, by creatives to foster imagination. If you're ready to make the world a more engaging place, click below to learn about our open positions...'.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/08/breaking-rhythm.html.