Tim Dowling: it’s raining indoors. Someone needs to get up on the roof

The house has sprung a leak. After a third day of rain, water starts running down our bedroom window on the wrong side: the inside. It gathers in a pool on the sill and drips over the edge to the floor.

“We should prioritise this,” I say, the carpet squelching under my feet. What I mean is: we should move this up the list, ahead of mending the garden wall and installing the new towel rail. We will struggle to appreciate these small…