Saturday 26 November 2011

Washday blues, whites and colours - all piled up .........

I don’t mind admitting that I have a ‘bit of a thing’ about washing in general, and dirty washing in particular. I think it stems from childhood when Monday was washing day and for the next couple of days we would be overrun with clean washing drying, whilst at the same time dirty washing was stacking up ready for the next Monday to come round!


If it was bad then, in the days when you wore clothes more than once, just imagine what the past two and a half weeks have been like Chez Brotherhood. My trusty old Hotpoint finally gave up the ghost. I got round to ordering a new machine and John (never knowingly undersold) Lewis finally got round (nearly 2 weeks later) to delivering said machine.



But what a machine it is; it does everything short of strip the beds, and therein lies the rub ……. I am finding it too difficult to understand! This machine must have been developed at Cern as an offshoot of their work on the particle accelerator. With my old machine everything was done on the 'F' programme, just changing the water temperature for different sorts of washing.  We aren't generally instruction reading people, as Tim has the kind of techy brain that can look at something and immediately figure out how it works ............ but not this time!


However, last night Tim and I went through the instructions for the new machine together as we put in the first of about 10 waiting loads. We couldn’t find a programme of less than 90 minutes and the ones we really wanted to do were over 2 hours! Even my Friday evening brain fade calculates that at 15 hours …….

Thank goodness my nest is empty at the moment. With Rhiannon and Tom still living at home I’d be looking spending at the next couple of days washing - just in time to turn up for the day job again on Monday morning.


17 comments:

  1. I know the feeling well. When we had the new oven and washing machine installed here they were far more complicated than anything I have had before. The instructions were all in French. I can now work them, but I am not sure I have all the answers!!! Diane

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  2. I am not a fan of washing either. In Spain there was a new washing machine that was in Spanish, but still easy to figure out and I loved it. I'm sure you will have yous up and running and the laundry will be done before you know it. Does it do the ironing too?(not my favorite part either.)

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  3. This made me laugh as it sounds familiar, although my all singing all dancing washing machine thankfully does have lots of short programmes and a timer to make use of cheap rate electricity! Hopefully you will find your new machine has hidden talents and shorter programmes Gaynor.

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  4. Diane,
    We haven't got the excuse that the instructions are in French. They are in English and still hard to fathom!!!

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  6. Jane,
    I actually like washing, it's a full basket of dirty washing that gets to me. As for ironing I'm not sure that it does. Good thing really, as it just wouldn't be right to take Tim's job away from him!

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  7. LindyLoumac,
    I think it has all those things and I look forward to finding out how to use them ...... ;o)

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  8. It sounds like our Zanussi... it has long programmes for all the main washes... and runs on "Zanussi time".... 1 hr 57 mins can take anything up to 2hrs 15mins!... but can also only take 1hr 50mins!! Same cycle... no odd settings... "The appliance of science" [But not as we know it, Jim!]
    Tim [masquerading as a Cat]

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  9. If there is Zanussi time there is probably Bosch time too! With the latest scientific discovery that Einstein might have been wrong in his theory that nothing travels faster than the speed of light, I'm not surprised that 1hr 57mins can vary in length from 1hr50-2hrs15!! QED

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  10. Likewise, we have LG time in our house. Just recently it had to cope with a 3m x 4m dustsheet covered in render and did so magnificently with the pre-wash and extra rinses, set to run in the early morning off-peak. Took about 2 and a half hours. Most things just get the 30 min quick wash treatment.

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  11. Susan,
    That's just the wash I've been looking for but haven't yet found!!

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  12. I guess you'll figure it out, eventually :) And then you'll probably need only 30% of its functions. Why do they make these machines so complicated? I have the same feelings about my dishwasher: the shortest, so-called 'eco' program taking almost two hours! Luckily I run the machine only once or twice a week. Otherwise it would cost me a fortune in electricity and water. Martine
    P.S. Good luck with your new 'toy'!!:)

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  13. We bought the cheapest washing machine we could find for our French kitchen, a Fagor I think, and it has a very handy 30 minute programme which is all we ever use.

    It feels cheap and nasty and rattles a bit and walks across the kitchen when it spins, but I would certainly buy another one. Our AEG at home is not too bad as the only two programmes I ever use take about 45 minutes.

    The new tumble drier is on the other hand a pain in the posterior. It's a condensing model and takes forever. Unlike the old one, which zapped everything bone dry in 30 minutes. So wash days now take all week, with damp washing queueing up to be dried, unless the weather is suitable to hang it out, which is rare and even then I have to finish it off in the drier or drape it over airers in the bathroom and bedrooms.

    It's so annoying that you are paying for technology that you don't want and don't need most of the time !!

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  14. Thanks Martine.

    No doubt I'll let you know via the blog how I get on. In fact the latest is that this morning I used the 'dark wash' setting and it took 75 minutes!

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  15. I agree Jean,

    I went for this model because there was a deal on for four parts and labour warranty free, plus my energy costs back which amounts to about about £80. When both of these were taken into consideration the costs were comparable with a very basic model.

    I'm sure I will eventually find the settings I want .....

    We don't have a tumble dryer but use an old fashioned laundry rack which hoists up to the ceiling of the utility room. It's probably saved us a fortune in electricity costs over the years!

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  16. I can only sympathise, Gaynor... Our washing machine gave up the ghost a couple of months ago. Had we been on our own it wouldn't have been such a problem but it chose to die with our three guests' wet (and still dirty) washing trapped inside it. Now that was a difficult one! Happy washing!!

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  17. Colin and Elizabeth,

    For someone with a 'thing' about dirty washing that would have been a challenge!

    I'm already getting to know the machine - 9 loads in two days, but a nearly empty washing basket!!!

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