And then I repeated this 5 times.
Then I phoned my boiler insurance people, who asked if I wanted someone out in two days, or three. I managed to bargain them down to tomorrow.
Thankfully, Julie then gave it one more go, and it started working.
In April there's a Boiler Scrappage scheme starting that will make it much cheaper for me to replace this aging beast. I'm really, really hoping that it sees me through until then...