Help! - I Need a Plumber

Finding good plumbers in the UK is difficult. Need a plumber in an emergency and youve got a real problem.

Theres lots of articles available on selecting plumbers. Weve all heard the advice - get quotes, follow up references and ask friends and families for referrals. All good stuff but it makes it sound as if people needing a plumber have a choice available to them.

This really misunderstands the issue which the average householder faces. Yes we do want to find a great plumber, that knowledgeable, polite, punctual, reasonably priced paragon of virtue but before we get that far, we have to find a plumber who is prepared to do business with us.

If you need a plumber in an emergency, youll either find the ones which have priced themselves out of the market and so are often available Mr or Mrs Itll cost you! or their more reasonably priced cousin Dave Quickest I could get to you is next Wednesday. Not great if you have a leak and its now Sunday.

Indeed the position is not much better if you are planning routine work such as having a boiler serviced or a bathroom installed. Getting a quote can be a challenge getting the work started much more difficult.

Now, according to recent reports, the position should be easing.

Over the past few years, the press has run stories about a shortage of plumbers. In 2003, the British Plumbing Employers Council estimated that the plumbing industry would need to recruit 29,000 new entrants over the next 5 years. This led to reports of City workers leaving their jobs in the hope of earning 70,000 a year as a plumber.

More recently, however, there are accounts of workers with plumbing experience from Eastern Europe filling vacancies on building sites and a surplus of trainees trying to find jobs.

For the householder, this should mean that finding a good plumber who is available is much easier. The logic is fine but plumbers who are available for work are still an elusive breed. So if you have water pouring through the ceiling or your new bathroom arrives next Wednesday, read on for hot Hints on tracking down a plumber.

hot Hints for Finding a Plumber

• Asking for recommendations from family and friends is always a good first port of call.
• Check out one of the internet directories on-line you can search for plumbers close to you and the better guides give the plumbers the space to provide details of their experience and specialist skills. Remember to mention the directory when you call some have arrangements where the plumbers offer a discount.
• Look in your local parish magazine. Often the plumbers who advertise there live close by in an emergency someone who is just down the road may well be quicker, cheaper and, more importantly, willing to turn out.
• Try your local paper. Some plumbers will advertise in the classified ads all year round, others will appear only when they are not busy increasing your chance of finding someone who says yes.
• Ring your local letting agent letting agents usually have a team of tradesmen and women who are set up to respond quickly to problems faced by tenants of the agent. Their plumber may be willing to help you.
• Call your plumbing supply shop the staff get to know the regulars really well and are likely to be able to suggest someone who is not only good but who is available to take on your job.
• Plan in advance, every time, a friend has plumbing work done ask them who did it and if they were any good. Keep details of the recommended plumbers. Then, when the leak or blockage occurs you know who to phone straight away.

Once youve found a possible plumber, do take steps to check them out. In reality, plumbers are no more likely to be rogues or cowboys than anyone else and most are extremely professional and hardworking. But erring on the side of caution is probably wise.

Take particular care if you are employing a plumber to carry out gas work. Check that your plumber is registered with CORGI. Registration numbers can be checked on CORGIs website - www.corgi-gas-safety.com. Operatives working for a registered installer will also carry a card which can be checked by a householder.

Good luck finding your ideal plumber. If you find a really great plumber in your area, please do let me know via my website.

Caroline Blatchford is the founder of Local service Guide which helps people to find the local services which they need in the UK. Whether you need a plumber, a restaurant or a letting agent, go to http://www.LocalServiceGuide.com

Martial Arts Supplies Yoga And Meditation

Yes, No, Yes No: The Yamas & Niyamas

The Yamas & the Niyamas represent the first two limbs/branches of the eight-limbed body/tree of Ashtanga (ashta=eight, anga=limb) yoga. Considered as foundations for the remaining six limbs, these outer branches of the Ashtanga system are attitudes & actions that have the power to align us with Inner Peace. Totaling ten in number ~ five Yamas or donts, and five Niyamas or dos ~ they strike a resonant cord, for many who first come upon them, with the Christian Ten Commandments. There is, however, an important difference: the emphasis of the Yamas & Niyamas is not so much on what we will suffer if we fail to abide by them, but rather on what we will gain if we choose to practice them. In other words, they are not so much commandments as they are recommendations, invitations or just plain sensible advice from our friends in this yoga lineage.

The Yamas & Niyamas are ~ at least initially ~ engaged with as a path, a practice, a direction of development. Once weve practiced for a while, and realize spiritual perfection (i.e. have traversed the remaining six limbs of Ashtanga Yoga), the Yamas & Niyamas manifest as specific siddhis/fruitions which take us beyond the yes and no of the path, and into the nondual territory of YesNo, a.k.a. Nirvana, Brahma, Unity Consciousness. They become what in Buddhism are called paramitas (nondual perfections). So while initially the Yamas & Niyamas are much like the proverbial finger pointing to the moon (a tool for guiding our vision), in their essence and final manifestation they are finger/moon indistinguishable.

The first of the Yamas is Ahimsa, or non-violence. It is the practice of doing no harm, and reveals benevolence as a natural quality of the heart. When we perfect the quality of non-violence, hostility ceases in our presence: even the fiercest of beasts ~ in meeting this perfected vibration of doing-no-harm ~ themselves become harmless. Complementing the Yama of Ahimsa is the niyama of Saucha, or cleanliness, which ~ though it includes bodily cleanliness ~ refers principally to a purity of heart. In renouncing the desire to do harm in any way to others (the practice of Ahimsa), we develop a sweetness & innocence that is the sign of a heart inwardly pure and at peace. The consciousness of being separate from others (the root of all acts of violence) has at this point been transformed into the realization of the inherent Unity of being giving rise to that absolute inner purity which is recommended by the niyama of cleanliness.

The second of the Yamas is Satya, or truthfulness. This is the practice of harmlessness with respect to our speech: of speaking in a way that is both truthful and kind. This requires us, for one, to make a distinction between truth and fact: the truth (the Masters tell us) is always beneficial (given the particular context); a statement of fact can (within a particular context) be either beneficial or harmful. What is recommended, when faced with a situation in which speaking sincerely would likely inflict harm, is simply to remain silent. Perfection of Satya develops mental power to such an extent that ones mere word becomes binding on objective events: One has merely to declare a thing so for it actually to become so. Complementing the Yama of Satya is the niyama of Ishvara Pranidhana, or Devotion to the Supreme Lord, for the ultimate act of truth-telling is to admit to there being only one reality in existence: God. And this is a God discovered not by scattering our devotion outwardly in religious ceremonies and rituals, but rather by turning it inward (becoming yogis!) ~ by realizing Brahma flowing through and as ourselves. This fundamental self-honesty (Satya) unfolds quite naturally then as the niyama of Devotion to the Supreme Lord (our own radiant Core). When we realize who we are, how can we not be in love and endlessly devoted to that?!

The third of the Yamas is Asteya, or non-avarice. What is to be renounced, here, is the desire for anything that is not acquired by merit. This involves a fundamental trust in the law of attraction by which what a person does indeed merit, will be (quite infallibly) attracted. (This is in alignment, also, with the tenets of karma yoga: of remaining relaxed with respect to outcome/resluts, even in the midst of fervent activity.) Developed to perfection, the quality of non-avarice generates a subtle magnetism that enables the yogi to attract things effortlessly: his or her needs, whatever they are, are always met giving rise then to a sense of ease and relaxation. Complementing the Yama of Asteya is the niyama of Santosha, or contentment. Because we know that what we merit will always be forthcoming, were able ~ in our work and in our play ~ to rest within an attitude of acceptance, regardless of the particular circumstances that are currently manifesting in/as our life.

The fourth of the Yamas is Aparigraha, or non-acceptance, and is a corollary to Asteya/non-avarice: Asteya signifies non-attachment to what is not our own; Aparigraha signifies non-attachment to what we would normally consider to be our own. The point is that nothing, truly, belongs to us (as small-self/ego). Everything ~ our bodies, our actions, our thoughts ~ belongs to the Lord (our Higher Self). The perfection of Aparigraha manifests as the capacity to remember our past incarnations (something that is possible only when we let go of our identification with our present body). Complementing the Yama of Aparigrapha is the niyama of Swadhyaya, or introspection, which invites a movement from an understanding of what we are not (via the practice of non-acceptance) to an ever-deepening intuition of who we are.

The fifth of the Yamas is Brahmacharya, self-control or ~ more literally ~ flowing with Brahma/the Supreme Spirit. This teaching is applied most specifically to the practice of celibacy/sexual abstinence. More generally, it refers to working skillfully with all of our natural human appetites. In its deepest sense, Brahmacharya signifies the practice of allowing our awareness always to be flowing in the Core of our being, i.e. of being identified with Spirit, instead of with an ego centered in body-consciousness. As we train in this way, we begin to be master of our natural human appetites (their fulfillment becomes a clear expression of the energy of awakened mind), instead of being mastered by them (i.e. drawn into loops of distraction from the truth of who-we-are). The perfection of this Yama dawns as an arising of boundless energy, which causes us to shine like the sun itself, shedding radiance continuously. Complementing the Yama of Brahmacharya is the niyama of Tapas, or austerity, which refers to the practice of taking energy that was formerly directed outwardly, and re-channeling it into the spiritual search, of offering (as food) to the fire of the Shushumna Nadi, all of those previously outwardly-directed desires/appetites.

Elizabeth Reninger holds Masters degrees in Sociology & chinese Medicine, is a published poet (please visit: http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com), and has been exploring yoga ~ in its Taoist, Buddhist & Hindu varieties ~ for more than twenty years. Her teachers include Richard Freeman, Mingyur Rinpoche & Eva Wong. For more yoga-related essays & resources, please visit her website: http://www.writingup.com/blog/elizabeth_reninger

Teen Fitness Yoga Positions