Dear Marion,

Thank you very much for your note about the plumbing quiz.
I don't remember how much I wrote you about the details,
but Mr. Esposito, though he completed the questionnaire,
returned it to me unsigned and without his engineer's stamp.
I disagree with some of his constructions of the law and
with some of his conclusions about the engineering, nonetheless
his answers on balance would have been of value to me, had
he not answered my question, Did you view the whole system?
with NO. That answer, which happens to be untrue, serves even
without cross examination to impeach his entire testimony. I
suspect that he denied having examined the entire system
in order to extort another trip to Nantucket ($610) and more
hours of consultation at $70 per hour. He is a timid person,
not very intelligent, and would, I think make a very dangerous
witness. It would be very unwise for me to submit his
testimony to the court. It's quite possible, if not indeed
likely that on cross examination he would reverse himself
and destroy my case. Meanwhile he is sending me further
invoices, $210 for completing the questionnaire which he
did not sign. I've paid him $1450, and that's all he's
going to get from me. I do not intend to use the unsigned
questionnaire; I do not intend to call him as a witness.

My conclusion from my dealings with Mr. Esposito is that
the plumbing code (248 CMR) although it includes some very
specific imperatives and prohibitions, is so fragmentary
that its interpretation and application in the specific
case is unavoidably unpredictable and arbitrary. Justice
Vuono who wrote the Appeals Court opinion did not realize
that her requirement of an inspection of fairness and
integrity with specific and detailed reasoning for all
deficiencies is incompatible with the way the plumbing
code is written and with the way the plumbing code is
applied. Consider in addition Mr. Ciarmataro's intimidation
of Mr. Gordon and other plumbers and his organizing and
enforcing a plumber's boycott against me. Consider also
that these actions of Mr. Ciarmataro are in effect endorsed
by the Board of State Examiners and by the Attorney General
of the Commonwealth. I have no idea how the courts will
deal this this tangled problem, but I will find out - if 
I live long enough.

Today I had plumbing problems of a different sort. Subsequent
to the blow-out from the failure of the pressure control switch
nine days ago, the basement has remained wet, especially beneath
the base of the hot water tank. This afternoon I decided that
tank needed replacement which should not be postponed. I don't
relish the idea of the 850 mile trip from Belmont to a house
about which I must worry whether the hot water tank is still
usable, and the possibility of having to replace it upon 
arrival, - and the possibility that next year I might no longer
have the brains or the muscle to do so. Off we went to Lowe's
in Abingdon, a three hundred dollar credit card charge and
a very genial and friendly employee pushed the bulky carton
containing the tank into my cavernous minivan. Although the
carton cautioned in bold black print that two persons were
required, I managed quite easily to slide the box out of the
van, maneuvre it through the garage into what we call the
drying room where I will install it tomorrow. The reason for
the delay: sex confusion. The old tank was a female and was
connected to 3/4 inch male adapters, while the new tank is
a male and wants 3/4 inch female adapters, a sex change which
I didn't anticipate and which will require another trip across
the mountain, now decked in autumn finery. The autumn foliage
here takes on subdued pastel shades of red, yellow and brown,
quite different from the flaming red and yellow of northern
New England. We're planning to leave here on October 8.
Jochen