Odd Thomas Odd Blog

Finally, I have gotten off my widening backside to knock out a quick update! What's the bet this turns into a marathon post?! Well, Thursday finally saw my washer-dryer fixed for the umpteenth time: its only taken 4 weeks and 3 visits to achieve this ... this time. The reason? The engineer who came on the second visit didn't tighten the fan nut properly, so the collet didn't expand to secure the fan in place and it ended up breaking the system. Again. Numpty. I can think of harsher words, but they are not for publishing! All-in-all, its approaching a dozen separate visits to fix the problems with this machine and its barely two years old, yet they still won't replace it. Hotpoint have slipped off the bottom of my list of quality manufacturers now. * * * * * Friday night I popped into a friend's to drop off her birthday pressie and got some excellent news. My friend, unfortunately, has been suffering from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) ever since an operati...

Since the Hotpoint engineer left on Thursday with that confidence-inspiring comment , I have to confess to not being overly eager to use the washer-dryer: at least, not the dryer part anyway. So, with two washes down and the airer laden with more underwear than M&S can stock, I decided to try a third load, this time using the dryer so I didn't have to start hanging clothes on the curtain rail or off the shelves. My shirts are now being used as a set of trendy curtains ... yes, the dryer packed up again with an F-13 error. I am not a happy chappie. Which begs the question: did the engineer who came on Thursday know that it was going to break again? Time to fight for a new one. * * * * * Despite the ongoing grief with the washer-dryer, the weekend hasn't been too bad, just a tiring one. Saturday saw me making my usual trek to Presence for a late lunch and to learn my lines, this time listening to them on my Rio rather than reading them: it helps to hear the cue. Unfortunat...

A week ago today I had an engineer in to fix my washer-dryer, who basically commented that it was a waste of time buying these things as they always break: always good to hear in our modern, state-of-the-art society! As he couldn't fix it there and then, he booked for the engineer from the previous breakdown to come back today. The engineer turned up around lunchtime, spent 30 minutes fixing it and complaining on the phone that the last guy didn't even look into the problem properly and then left saying, "See you again soon, no doubt". So, does that mean its fixed and is just a crap product or that its not fixed and I'll be seeing him again when I next try to use it?! I think that when the insurance runs out on this, I will consider purchasing a regular washing machine: that's six engineers I've had out to this now and its barely two years old. Well, at least today went better than last night. I'd had a reasonably good day at work yesterday and, come ...

From barely one second into the new year*, I have been planning on spending money on all kinds of goodies in 2008, ranging from a new TomTom to a new phone ** to a new TV . However, as with all of my best-laid plans, it appears that other forces are at work here and trying hard to postpone the fun side of things by adding up lots of little costs for me ... which makes a change as I usually have a huge bill for something or other round about this time of year! I've already mentioned that my washer-dryer has gone tits up again and, luckily, extended the warranty the week before Christmas (how's that for timing?!). Well, in addition to that, the bathroom fan that my Dad and I replaced a couple of years ago, has also decided it was a bit fed up of the daily spin and started smouldering in its little corner of the ceiling. As it is attached to the light switch, this has meant digging out a handful of candles from the back of the cupboard so that I don't have to bathe in the da...

Why, oh why, do I let myself get caught out every Christmas?! It seems that, as well as over-spending on presents for the family, I should really be putting money aside for the inevitable Christmas breakdown, too ... in addition to my hob's attempt to cook the worktop , my washer-dryer has given up the ghost for the fifth time!! Ironically, the insurance company contacted me back in November to ask how it was doing and I told them it was doing fine, so they sent me the paperwork to apply for another year's insurance ... I think they thought they weren't going to have to pay out! Mind you, so did I :-( So, it looks like I'm going to spend another couple of weeks wearing old clothes I hardly wear because I can't get them washed ... good job I haven't been able to take them down to the charity shop yet, otherwise, I would need to buy them back! I guess that also means I'm going to have to buy an airer for all the wet clothes that keep getting stuck in it... Wi...