×I can't give all of the details here, but I organised some work to be done in the cottage last summer - installing a Rayburn in the kitchen and an open fireplace in the sitting room. Unfortunately things started going awry fairly early on. I discovered that the men were living (over nights) in the cottage, without my permission, leaving it messy and on one occasion I found that someone had been using my bed and that I felt was very creepy. In the end I just wanted the job done and those men out of my cottage. By the first week in August they were finished, I paid them and they left and I thought that my difiiculties were over.

Boy, did things get a whole lot worse! I was in Raasay on Friday 16th September last year and, as it was cool that evening, for the first time I turned on the boiler in the Rayburn. All the radiators warmed up nicely, but when I started to draw a bath later in the evening there was no hot water. I phoned the Aga help line on Monday 19th September and had a helpful conversation with one of their engineers. He made some suggestions about what might be causing the problem and asked why I didn’t just get the engineer back to sort it. Of course I had to explain the problems and he suggested that I needed to get in touch with both Trading Standards and Aga's own Customer Services. As a result of that chat, I went back to Raasay the following weekend and asked a local builder, Donnie, to see if he could sort the problem. As he walked through the house with me looking at the work, I pointed out things which had concerned me, but which I was uncertain about; I didn't know if they were technically necessary or not: That conversation was very worrying :

*The slabs under the Rayburn, which are hideously ugly and I am now told weren't needed protrude around 3 inches; even if they had to be used they should have been trimmed flush with the front of the Rayburn.

*The gap of around an inch and a half between the mantelpiece and the wall at the fireplace should not be there (i can put my hand down between the mantel piece and the wall!); Donnie said "someone miscalculated badly".

*When we walked into the upstairs bedroom where the hot tank is, Donnie said immediately "That shouldn't be there", referring to the control box for the Rayburn. I had been unhappy to find that it had been positioned there but had assumed there was a technical reason for it. Apparently it should be on the kitchen wall beside the Rayburn (a much more sensible and convenient place).

*When he opened the half-height cupboard door to the tank his words were, "This work isn't finished". He pointed out two electrical boxes which he said should be fixed to a wall; they had been dropped down the side of the tank somewhere and were lying on pipes at the bottom. There is an open metal switch box in the lower part of the cupboard, with exposed wires, which I was told shouldn't be there. Donnie wasn't sure if the wires were live or not and didn't have the testing device with him. He did say that if they were dead they should have been removed.

*He eventually found out why I had no hot water, just hot radiators: he discovered first that a 'by-pass' valve had been mis-set directing all the hot water back to the Rayburn rather than into the tank. Resetting it did not solve the problem however and with a bit more searching, he found that a valve down somewhere near the bottom of the tank was turned completely off. Once it was turned on the tank began to heat up. Obviously the system hadn't been checked.

*Later on that same day I discovered water coming through the kitchen ceiling and, thinking it was a result of what had been done in the tank cupboard earlier, I phoned Donnie who came back to the cottage almost immediately He had a good look for the source of the water and came to the conclusion that it was not a burst or leaking pipe, but that there was most likely a problem where the flue had been put through the roof. He couldn't be certain without going up onto the roof and of course he couldn’t do that right there and then. Fortunately the rain had stopped, so the leak had too. He promised to come back to the cottage as soon as practicable and investigate.

*In trying to find the source of the leak he had to remove plaster board to expose the flue. He was so concerned by what he found that he phoned me that night to say that, when back in Raasay, I should not use the Rayburn as it constituted a fire risk. He was of the opinion that the work done by the guild engineer was seriously substandard and breaks building regulations. He eventually managed to go up onto the roof (that of course was very much weather-dependent) to find the leak and was again appalled by what he found; all sort of things badly or incorrectly done: the flashing on upside down, nailed into a flat dormer roof, silicone used where it shouldn’t have been (because it reacts badly with bitumen).

While all of this was going on, and having paid the full quotation, the contractor had stated that that I owed him another £4,000! (that’s around $6,200) and when I declined to give him that he threatened to take me to court, the first time I have had such an experience and very scary. My own excellent solicitor of 30 years no longer does court law and recommended that I talk to a local solicitor conversant with civil law. He informed me that under Scottish law I cannot sue the contractor for the expense of remedial work - and that is something I will be writing to my MSP about. So I was in the position of either taking back these dreadful people or pay for repairs myself. The last thing I wanted was to let those cowboys back in my cottage and I was - and I still am - appalled that a householder is put in that position.

Over the winter I set about finding other heating engineers to give me quotes for the remedial work - not easy given the location of the cottage and the fact that I’m asking them basically to sort out someone else’s mess. I eventually found three who were willing to look at it (including Donnie). In the process of inspecting the work, two of them discovered two more problems : one with the fireplace - it has not been built correctly, is crumbling and is not safe - and one with the lower end of the Rayburn flue which has not been fitted correctly

One of those three declined to give a quote, whilst expressing great sympathy for the situation I am in and disgust at what had been done in the cottage. Indeed all three men have said the standard of work done is just shocking and all three said that even if I had decided to take back the original contractor he would have to be supervised at all times by someone knowledgeable enough to know if what he was doing was correctly done. That is not something I can do; indeed I’m fairly certain very few householders have that kind of knowledge. The two remaining workmen promised me quotes, but in the end I only got one quote; the remedial work is going to cost £5,000 - that’s around $7,750!

So nearly a year after the work started, I have
* a temporarily patched up but still slightly leaking roof,
* a Rayburn which is unsafe to use, meaning no central heating
* a fireplace which is unsafe to use, meaning no heat in the sitting room
* a hot tank cupboard with unsafe/incomplete electric work
* a heating control box in the wrong place
and seemingly, despite my best efforts, no reasonable way of sorting any of that. I am in an impossible situation and the legal advice I have had recently is that given the amount the repairs will cost, I would have to take the Aga engineer to court - another nightmare. The solicitor has said that even if I do that, and win which is likely given the appalling work, there is a real risk that the Aga guy could just have himself declared bankrupt and I would end up paying court costs as well as the £5000 for the repairs. So it looks as though I’ll just have to bite the bullet and get the work done before the late Autumn and pay the bill. I hate it, I think it is completely wrong, but I don’t think I have much choice.

Meantime work has been harder than ever. The whole of Highland Region went through a computer “refresh” this session and we had ours in the last week of term in September (just as all the Raasay mess was coming to a head). That meant computer techs in school over the weekend, 24 hours a day, replacing all our computers and software! - in the middle of the school session?! Well! it has been an ongoing disaster, particularly for my subject. The software which we all have to use now for registration etc is not fit for purpose - keeps crashing and don’t start me on the log-in situation! - every 35 minutes we are automatically logged out and have to log back in again, mostly through 3 seperate logins!! Reports are now being done on these (supposedly nice shiny new) computers and that is a source of difficulty and stress for all of us - not set up the way we need them. The situation in my department specifically has been worst of all. Half of the computers they gave me are set to not save!!!!! even if I leave them on over night; as soon as they “sleep" themselves they wipe everything that has been done in that session - and no one can do anything about it I'm told because that’s in the contract the Council signed! honestly you couldn’t make it up. My own classroom’s computer has compatibility issues with the most recent version of Sibelius; it crashes; it freezes. it has never once played the music correctly - it judders dreadfully and again no one seems to be able to fix it. Bear in mind that all my SQA exam pupils have to do composition for their exams on that software and you will understand why I have been beyond stressed.

I developed a skin condition in October out of the blue and even after consulting 5 different doctors I still had it. Finally in January the last one I consulted, who specialises in "skin things", said that there were two problems - firstly I was completely stressed out (surprise!) and secondly my immune system is rock bottom. Apparently this condition was being caused by something we all have on our skin all the time and a normal healthy immune system will control it, but because of the mess I’m in my immune system is not coping with it. I have to say the conversation with him shocked me. So when the general letter to staff about age retirement came out at the end of January I emailed the staffing department to ask if early retirement might be a possibility. General opinion in school was that I was too young and would not get it. I got an acknowledgement but then nothing. Then suddenly at the end of the second last week of last term I received a letter saying that they would give me early retirement. I had a week to decide whether or not to accept - a bizarre, up and down and all-over-the-place week. There are enormous financial implications because I have two houses and two lots of bills, so I am going to have to live very frugally until I sell this house - and the way the housing market is here at the moment that could be a long time. In the end though, no amount of money will buy me good health so I decided to accept. Interestingly the skin condition began to clear up almost immediately - and it is almost gone now, with not too much scarring.

So this term has been all about clearing up my classroom and preparing things for A. N. Other to take over - it’s been very busy and very strange. The last couple of weeks have been incredibly hectic - the interviews for my replacement were held (15 applicants); we had Prize Giving and guess what - I was still expected to perform (you’d think that after 26 years they might allow me one where I could just sit back and enjoy it!); I had the successful applicant back into the department to spend time talking through all the classes she will be meeting in August. I had my retiral dinner and I now have all the last-minute tidying - all my plants will have to come home and pictures taken down and the many department keys labeled and left in the right places. There will also be a presentation on Friday and I will be doing a large baking for it - for the staff to have with coffee. Oh, it's all-singing, all-dancing!!

It has all happened so unexpectedly, it was such a surprise, that I’m not sure how I feel about “being retired” in a week. I certainly like the idea of getting well and fitter and losing all the weight I’ve put on! On the other hand, being impoverished is not something I anticipate with alacrity(!) and of course selling this house could also become quite stressful. However the deed is done and I think the next week is going to be a bit difficult. I've been there 26 years and leaving and saying good bye to people is not going to be easy.

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