Broken Boiler and Coal Fire. Merry Christmas.

My wife woke me this morning to the news that our central heating would not come on. Chilly chilly.

I got up and checked the level of the oil in the tank. It was knee high ... plenty. Should get us through the winter. I pressed the re-start button on the boiler and the thing fired up, but very quickly, it started venting black smoke out through the back, so I switched it back off immediately.

Now what? Christmas Day of all days. We'll be lucky to get anyone out to service it until next year, and at what cost?

Meanwhile, I've lit up the coal fire. We at least have lots of logs in the garden to burn. There is an immersion switch by the water tank, so we should be able to get hot water. There will be no heating throughout the rest of the house though.

This is sickening.