bluefirebird

As a bit of light relief from all of the family troubles, the washing machine (actually a washer dryer) packed up today at the ripe old age of 14 - although that might have something to do with the fact that apart from the living in a ridiculously hard water area it hasn't had a seriously hard life.

I knew it was on its last legs, first the cooler dryer element gave out, and then a couple weeks back the warmer one expired also, leaving me with a washer that was no longer a dryer. And it's been sounding as though it's trying to vibrate itself across the kitchen recently so even the washer was on the way out. Then today as it tried to spin up in the initial rinse mode it tripped the fuse to the flat - I need to buy a UPS for all my computer kit! - so I removed some of the load and tried again with the same result.

Which left me with a load of damp, soapy, clothes. So I rinsed them all out in the bath and then knocked on the neighbour opposite to get it all spun, as I don't have the space to deal with a load of dripping laundry.

A washing machine is something I can't live without - we don't have what appears to be the American system of a shared laundry room in the basement in appartments/flats here, and neither my neighbour nor I have a clue where the nearest laundromat is - I could't even say where the nearest dry cleaner is! So I've spent the evening browsing washer/dryers on the internet and made my purchase - I've gone from an Ariston to a Zanussi!

With travelling to my folks place 3-4 times a week, I could take the laundry over and use Mum's machine, but why make life more complicated?

The only snag is I'm going to have to dismantle half the shelving here to allow room for the washer to be wheeled into the kitchen and the old one to be removed for recycling. Ho, hum.

Oh, and I booked the delivery for Friday and then realised that I had planned to be going to a funeral at 11:30, although as it was someone I respected in the cycling world - rather than a good friend - I guess it won't be the end of the world if I have to miss it. There's another one the following week for the 97 year old club member who died last week anyway!