Sunday 5 October 2008

Washing machine blues

Have you ever noticed that when your washing machine is out of commission the washing pile seems to develop a life of its own and it just grows and grows..............
Sadly the other day my most wonderful laundry aid decided to do a waltz across the kitchen floor... thankfully I managed to rescue it quite quickly... the thudding noise alerted me to the poor washing machines dilemma!!


Thankfully we do have a Coverplan for this overworked piece of machinery so wasted no time getting on the phone and dialling the number required.... And then I started to pull out my hair... 'Oh that number has changed now you need this number'.. blah.. blah.. blah... So rang that number to be greeted with the same repetitive message over and over and over and over and over again......... until I was cut off and had to start again... Then finally bingo I am actually able to speak to the very nice human being lady... who then tells me to write down two numbers.. authorisation number and engineers number (I think..... try to block these things out to be honest!!) Ring another number and after more repeated messages and the odd blast of awful music speak to a very nice young lady who finally gives me a day for my washing machine repair... Oh thank you . .. only a day and a half to wait.. not so bad.... but oh my how that washing pile grows and grows....


So this is my poorly washing machine forlorn and awaiting some much needed washing machine health care....



So a day and half later nice Mr Washing Machine health care man duly turns up and sets to work... 'Oh dear.. Oh dear... oh my this is bad news'..... 'Oh no' I exclaim eyeing up exploding washing pile.... and already planning a strategic plan of attack on wash pile in case of repair delays (will have to wait another week until said part is ordered!!) plan of attack usually means filling the bath with soap powder and soaking, washing , rinsing and wringing their and praying for dry weather!!


But regardless of deep intakes of breath and slow releases Mr Repair Man reckons he may be able to sort the problem out.. and bless his cotton socks so he did. With much heaving and pulling the collasped washing machine drum was pulled back into place via a repair job on a bracket that holds a very vital spring... once this was back in place the damaged seal which can be seen in above photograph was replaced and hey presto my washing machine was back in action!!


Thank you so much Mr Repair Man... and after a nice cup of steaming hot tea he went on his way and I was able to tackle that evergrowing washing pile....


And so you can see my much loved washing machine is now fully restored and now back in production again!!


I can remember my Mum washing by hand.. we lived in a cottage and we did not have a hot water system.. just a cold water tap in the kitchen and how she ever managed I will never know. I can remember her hands being blue with cold after rinsing with cold water in the winter. All the hot water was heated on a stove.. Monday was wash day, and in the winter wet clothes would be hanging around in the kitchen all day... then Tuesday was ironing day and Mum would put all her lovingly ironed clothes onto a clothes horse to air off and that would be opened in front of the fire and moved when we needed to sit nearer the fire... There was a day for downstairs cleaning, upstairs cleaning, kitchen and stove cleaning... On Saturdays we would go shopping and Sundays was roast dinner day and baking... all lovely and happy memories.....

6 comments:

MrsL said...

I'm hoping to launch into my new-to-me washing regime tomorrow. I have bought a washboard, and have a small galvanised bath which I will bring indoors to use. I will cheat by washing with hot water from the tap, though. I think a machine uses a lot of energy, so would like to reduce that if I can. However, I know my limits, and will probably still do sheets and towels in the machine, at least for the moment. The machine empties straight into a butt, which is then emptied and sued to water the garden - not that we need that today :)

aromatic said...

Good luck Leanne with the new washing regime... I think you are very brave! I quite agree with continuing with washing towels and sheets in the machine, I think if I attempted those by hand I would be no more!! When my washing machine is out of action and the washing piles breeds excessively I then enroll the help of my daughter who will wash my sheets and towels in her machine and I continue to do the rest in my bath until my machine has been repaired.
I do worry about the energy the machine uses though and try and make up for that in other ways...
I think its a brilliant idea having the machine empty into a butt... but what about all the detergent? is that harmful for the garden.. sorry if I am sounding dense here, but I have heard of this sort of thing before and always wondered about the effects of the detergent on the plants etc...

Jane xxx

Anonymous said...

My mum washed by hand all her life until she became very ill and I bought her a washing machine which eventually she gave in and used. Her arthritic hands weren't up to rinsing the copious amounts of Persil she used out of the clothes so we all had rashes as a consequence, and of course the old saucepan in which she used to boil knickers so the elastic pinged no more and thank goodness when tights came in so they held up the knickers... I do wonder if the costs of heating water etc might be about the same as the newer eco washing machines. The one I use now has cold water fill only and a few other eco features and there's websites which advise on what's best. Just a thought for those washing by hand and/or you want to replace a machine. X

aromatic said...

Hi LiZZie, oh your poor Mum and those hands... thankfully my Mum does not suffer with arthritic hands, which I am thankful for. I would have expected it after all the abuse her hands took.
My Mum lives four doors down from me, she moved nearer when Dad died. I look after most of her needs. Mum suffered a stroke after Dad died and although she has recovered to a certain extent she does get very muddled with things.
Mum also has a job to get her words out, she knows what she wants to say, but she struggles with speaking them, its all to do with the stroke. We get by though and thankfully we both have a sense of humor and can laugh about things. I do all of Mums washing and ironing because she would not be able to cope with a washing machine and all the dials etc. I also cook for Mum. Mum manages the other things in her life but I can see that may become a problem in time.
Like you my machine is cold fill and I try to do the 30 cycle as much as possible.
My Mum used to have what I think was called a Burco boiler. Her towels, sheets and knickers etc went in that.. sometimes if I recall it used to boil over and I can vaguely remember Mum getting in a pickle over it.... I can remember her heaving steaming hot items out of it and into a bowel/bucket to transfer it to the sink to rinse.... oh lovely days but really hard work!!

Jane xxx

Braeg Heneffe said...

I think that with the amount of water you'll be using in the bath and then the cost of heating the Washing Machine won't be much more expensive than doing it by hand, it will save you a lot of time and work too

Thursday said...

I had the washing repair man round a week or so ago - sadly, ours was pronounced dead but I consequently have a nice, new shiny one! I grew up with a twin tub washing machine and it still thrills me to be able to shove a load in a machine and let it do its thing without having to do all that draining, spinning and the resultant water all over the floor because I'd forgotten to put the hose in the sink.