I think we are almost at the end of our water meter saga. On Friday an engineer came round to take the external water meter off the shared supply and to fit a new meter inside the house. That is not ideal — it is in the living room and you can hear the ticking when there is a sudden draw of water, such as flushing the toilet — but at least there is some hope that we might eventually end up with a bill that reflects our usage rather than that of two or more households.

A fly in the ointment is that there is a very small but persistent drip from part of the pipework on the new installation. It is not even as much as a trickle but I am not happy to leave it unfixed. Rather than messing round with the work myself, I have called and registered it. That was an exercise in endurance, as I got passed backwards and forwards between departments with interminable hold musak in the pauses, but someone is due to come and assess it soon.

They might even bring a spanner and be able to fix it there and then; unlike certain other tales, I hope this saga will not stretch into old age and end (nastily) with a dragon!