So there was I, knackered, with very little time on my hands, feeling about as witty and interesting as a slab of paving, and with a commitment to blogging twice per week but nothing to say. When the next little domestic issue springs on me.
I have had no working washing machine for ten days. I realised there was a problem with the rinse cycle - 'it's almost as if the water isn't entering the machine' - as I explained to Other Half, as the washing was clean, but hot, and still a bit soapy, when I opened the door. For a few days I managed, by rinsing off washing in the bath, then returning it to the machine to spin. But the number of smalls - baby clothes, and more Thomas and Bob the Builder underpants than I thought conceivable when I started potty training - (incidentally, I've spent more on underwear for my toddler in the last three weeks than I've spent on myself in the last three years. But Other Half never notices it in his eagerness to get it off, so why bother?) made this an arduous and time-consuming task.
Thing is, I was deliberating over whether I should find someone to come and fix the washing machine, rather than just buying a new one, this being the environmentally-friendly option. But the time and energy involved... and what would it cost? What to do?!
After a few days, Other Half looked at it, cleaned the filter etc, and said he didn't know what was wrong. So the next day, I used a couple of my precious 'toddler at nursery' hours to walk in the rain with the pram to a place that sells dented fridges and the like, to see if they had something cheap that would suit us better. They didn't - well, they might have, but there's no way I'm buying a machine without a manual as I'm not instinctively good at working out how things function, and OH is worse. So we went hurriedly to a well known outlet in OH's lunch break and I picked a new washing machine in the approximately four minutes I had available.
He went to collect it after work and brought it home. I smiled at him affectionately through the front window as I knew he was tired and hadn't stopped all day. We agreed that he'd remove the old one before bringing the new one in, as we haven't got much space.
Some minutes later he emerged from the utility room.
'Viola!' he called. 'I've worked out why the old one wasn't working! I'd turned off the cold water supply to stop the sink tap leaking!'
I looked at him with an expression he quickly recognised on my face. And I didn't say anything except, 'So you better return that one right now then, hadn't you?'
I then spent another hour and a half on my own with both kids while he did.
We had to go back together the next evening, as we could only get the refund put on my card, and as it happens our fridge freezer has given up the ghost after a twenty year innings and we thought we'd pick a new one. We gave ourselves four and a half minutes for this. Which is how long it took Babe to poo himself and then wee against a 15-inch flat screen TV. I'm ashamed to say that we dragged him away without 'fessing up. The one time I leave the potty in the car...
But next week a lovely new fridge-freezer is being delivered, and I am happily half-way through about fifteen loads of washing, using the old machine. And our downstairs sink now has no cold water tap as I needed it to hit OH over the head with. Actually, the hitting bit was in my dreams, but you get the gist. What's more, OH has persuaded our neighbours to take our old fridge-freezer, as he cannot get through the day without carrying out numerous acts of apparent kindness, despite the fact that he hasn't warned them it is crap, and the well-known outlet will remove and recycle it for free. Whatever... I'll have to visit them on Monday and explain the situ. But hey, I've got time on my hands, haven't I?
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