It is often very difficult these days to find someone to come and fix your television set, or your washing machine, or any other household appliance if it breaks. Everybody wants to sell you new products, but nobody wants to fix them when they stop working.

One day Mrs. Harris discovered that her bathroom Faucet was leaking, so she phoned her plumber. Three days later, he arrived.

Mrs. Harris was unhappy about the delay, which had caused her a lot of trouble.

"Well, you've finally arrived!" she said to the plumber. "I called you three days ago."

The plumber was not at all disturbed by this. He simply took a piece of paper out of his pocket and looked at it.

"Three days ago?" he said. "That was the 21st, wasn't it? Well, I'm sorry, but I've come to the wrong place. I was looking for Mrs. Smith's house, not yours. She phoned me on the 20th."

A      Answer these questions:

1. What often happens these days when someone wants something fixed?
2. Why does this happen?
3. Why did Mrs. Harris phone her plumber?
4. How long did he take to come?
5. What did Mrs. Harris say to him?
6. What did the plumber do when he heard this?
7. And what did he say to Mrs. Harris?

B      Complete this puzzle:

Across:

6. Television sets work by __________.

7. The hot and cold water in a bathtub comes out of __________.

9. You can cook by electricity or by ___________.

11. A __________ came to fix Mrs. Harris's faucet.

14. The new faucet was too small, so it didn't ___________ the pipe on Mrs. Harris's bathtub.

15. Mrs. Harris lived on the south ________ of the street, and Mrs. Smith lived on the north.

16. Mrs. Harris didn't phone as early _______ Mrs. Smith.

18. Mrs. Harris is __________ now.

Down:

1. Done in a very pretty or attractive way.

2. Tries.

3. Hello!

4. When Mrs. Harris heard her doorbell _________, she hurried to open the door.

5. 

6. The plumber wasted a lot of time and effort. He wasn't a very _______ worker.

8. Mrs. Harris thought she heard a _________ outside her door, so she went to see if the plumber had arrived.

10. "What do you think Mrs. Harris’s _________ is?" "I think she's about thirty years old."

12. The plumber came to Mrs. Harris's house __________ car.

13. Give up one's job.

17. The plumber came to __________ Mrs. Harris's leaking faucet.

19. When Mrs. Harris turned the water__________ the faucet leaked.

C         Write this story, putting one word in each blank space.

frames    electrician   pipe   leak   plumber    drill     faucets     plasters

Jean is very good at fixing things when they stop working around the house. When there is an electrical problem, she doesn't call the ________. She fixes it herself. When one of the ________ on the bathtub begins to __________she doesn't have to call the __________. She fixes that also. She can clear a blocked _________, and make holes for screws with her electric _________ for hanging pictures on the walls. She even ____________ and paints the walls again, and __________ her own pictures.