The guttering man gave us an estimate for extruded aluminium guttering; it was quite expensive, so we priced up plastic guttering. Not only was it more than half the price of the aluminium stuff, but one shop only did the regular size (too small for our roof) and the shop that sells the bigger size doesn’t do the downpipes to match. We shouldn’t really have been surprised; that’s the way things work around here.

The aluminium looked much more appealing now as it will last far longer and the price included fitting, so he came back to measure up a few weeks ago, quoting us 5-6 weeks to delivery. I can’t describe our amazement when they turned up at 8 o’clock this morning, extruded the required lengths of guttering, fitted it to front and back of house and were finished by 10.30! If only everything worked liked that! The added bonus is that it looks good too, blending in with the roof tiles so that you hardly notice it.