A ballcock short of a flush

It was a non flushed. The siphon diaphragm had split so needed replacement.  That would have been easy and sensible but I thought that I would buy a replacement siphon and fit that

 What could possibly go wrong? 

Hmmmm. Well, firstly the overflow pipe would not come apart so I cut that with a hacksaw blade.  Next the new siphon is a slightly different size which meant the ball cock arm was not long enough and could not clear it holding the ball cock down.  Clearly I couldn't set it up with the risk of overflowing.  

I bought a new water inlet valve with an adjustable arm. The ball cock wouldn't fit.

I decided to buy a new water inlet valve with the modern float only to find that there isn't enough between the back of the cistern and the siphon body. 

Flipping flapjacks.  This is not tbe twenty minute job I had hoped for. 

I have put tbe longer arm back in and tomorrow morning I will buy a new ballcock. I'll be taking the arm with me to make sure they are compatible.  

On tbe bright side,  Jo and I did manage to move two boats into their winter storage.  I walked Pip for three miles and I ate fairly sensibly.