Household appliances and other stuff. In other words a totally rivetting post

Another hot and humid day...... I just love being out in the garden. My friend Glynis popped round this afternoon, and I was weeding a flower bed, and she grinned and said - "I just knew I would find you out here in the garden!" She was right. I just love watching everything grow.

Mind you, I seem to have a rogue cat who is taking up residence. This is not a disaster as the pigeons stay away, thank heavens, but today I found 2 dead birds (medium brown ones) in the drive. Not what I need to discover before I have had my first cup of coffee. And there is no-one but me to dispatch them either. Men do have their uses, you know. In times gone by I would just have called the man of the house. Sigh. Yuk.

You know how I talk about pacing a great deal??? My nemesis. Well, Glynis told me today that she had had a chat about me to her friend who works with people in a great deal of pain, and he says that the single most important thing to learn is pacing. You see, when I have a good day (-ish) I want to keep going and do loads. And then come the next day, I find I can't do a tenth. Like today. My word, I have been catatonic. Every part of me aches, and when I sit down and relax, it all hurts even more, so I keep moving, because it is easier, and what is the bet that tomorrow I will feel even worse. I need to get to grips with this pacing thing. It is a known fact, Glynis reports, that people who are used to taking control find it monumentally difficult to pace their lives. Yes. Well. That would be me. The idiot.

Tomorrow I am going in search of a washing machine. Enough is enough. I will find one I like. I am reasonable. All I want is one which:

1. washes at very low temps, like cold,


2. which has a good spin speed,


3. and which has a quick and speedy wash.

Simple. Hahahaha.

There is an advert on TV for a washing powder which washes at 15 degrees C which is about tap water temp. This is eco friendly and so I started looking for machines which wash at temperatures lower than 30 for ordinary washes. They are few and far between. So I called the washing powder manufacturer and they are unable to tell me which machines they tested on the low temp. What??? Hello? I want to know what machine to buy? They can't tell me. So then I called all manufacturers, and whoever I get on the phone has no idea which ones wash on low temps. They are mainly men on the helplines. I do believe that none of them have ever used a washing machine. Ever. This has taken more hours than you would believe, all the looking and searching and calling, and in the meantime, my dear long-suffering friends happily let me use their machines when I am desperate for clean everything.

But I will not be defeated. Oh...the other pre-requisite is that it is a reasonable price, as in very cheap. I am so easy to please. Really I am.

And then I did mention that my Dyson expired in a ball of fire, didn't I? Well, I saw a cute little vacuum cleaner at Ikea, and then when I went to buy it yesterday, discovered that, with all David's things in the car, I would have had to strap either my son or my mother to the roof if I had wanted to actually get it into the car. This was not feasible as we were about to negotiate the M25 and the M1 in torrential rain. If you have never been to the UK, the M25 and the M1 are two of the busiest motorways in the world. Avoidance is a good option at all times. So I remain vacuum-less.

BUT

The same shops which sell washing machines also sell vacuum cleaners, so you never know, tomorrow may be the day I find something special. Good grief. Don't you just HATE spending money on things like this? Things we take for granted and expect to work? Now new carpets would be great. Or a wood-burning stove. Or a laptop. Or new bannisters. But a hoover and a washing machine? Give me strength.

And on that stellar note, I will depart for the Land of Nod. I have no intention of dreaming of domestic appliances either.