Dishwasher Challenge

Dishwasher

Susan has a Beko Dishwasher, I know, bordering on the bazaar. After several attempts to plumb it in, we finally have an operating machine that washes dishes.

After what seems like an enormous amount of money, first to buy the machine, and I was clever, I asked it to be installed. First mistake: install in Curry’s terms, means placing it in the kitchen and connecting the water and drain up. We have a washing machine which is connected, but that means there are no connections for the dishwasher. 

The Polish Installation Engineer shook his head and said. 

‘No connect, phone customer services.’ And he took off.

If you try phoning customer services, you will be beaten; there is no customer service, only an AI bot. Realising I was no match for this sophisticated system, I admitted defeat.

I had a dead dishwasher standing in the middle of the kitchen and no idea where to go next. Dishwashers are things to avoid; I have learnt this expensive lesson.

To compound the problems already bestowed on me for buying Susan a dishwasher, the kitchen drain was blocked. 

Gary kindly offered to fit the dishwasher for me and arrived at the same time as the man who was going to unblock our drains. 

After much deliberation by Gary and the drain man, it was agreed only a plumber could overcome the difficulties of fitting an extra drain outlet and an extra water inlet. Proving to be a lengthy project, and the costs are overrunning.

Pleased to say, our local plumber sorted it out in just under an hour, but when he left, his van would not start. You can guess the rest: I took him to Halfords for a new battery, and after what seemed like forever, he knocked at the door and said it was the wrong battery. Back to Halfords, and this time I went in with him and made sure he bought the correct battery for his van. 

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We now have a working dishwasher, and Susan has shiny glasses to prove it. I did a little comparison below; it makes interesting reading. 

Just before you look at the facts surrounding the crime, Susan is very happy with her dishwasher, and that is what is important.

I now have to learn the etiquette of a dishwasher. Firstly, unlike a sink, you do not put your dishes next to the sink in preparation for washing; you put them in the washing machine. As Susan pointed out, if it is not in the machine, it will not be washed; you might have just as well have put it in the garden. You must make sure there is salt in the washing machine. I did enquire if any more seasoning was required but did not get an answer.

See my first lesson on FB. (Beware, they do use explicit language) 

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1FFApuyo3D/

Dishwasher vs Hand washing

Dishwasher

1. First, rinse the dishes under hot water after removing any food left on the dishes; take care not to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

2. Take the said rinsed dishes and stack them in the dishwasher

3. Oops, there is no salt in the dishwasher 

4. Go to Asda and buy some salt 

5. Unpack the dishwasher and put the salt in

6. Stack the dishwasher again and remember to add the washing tablet and rinse aid powder

7. Turn the machine on, and you can expect shiny, washed dishes in about 2 hours.

8. Total time taken is 2 hours and 38 minutes. This excludes unpacking the dishwasher once it has finished the cycle.

9. Cost of this operation: Electricity 80p, water 30 litres 5p, salt 10p, dishwasher tablet 25p, Rinse additive 15p Total Cost £1.35

Handwashing. 

1. Half-fill the sink with hot water; 15 litres will be more than enough

2. Add a tablespoon of Fairy Liquid

3. Soak for 15 minutes

4. Wipe clean with a sponge

5. Place on drying rack

6. Total time taken is 20 minutes

7. Cost of washing is 30p

Susan, I am not perfect. I will say stupid things that will annoy you, but I promise you one thing: I will love you more than anyone in the world.

Silence

The ability to enjoy your own company is one of the most underrated forms of peace.

When you’re comfortable being alone, you stop looking for distractions and start paying attention to what actually matters. 

Bath Time for Jenson

We swim daily; Jenson swims twice a day. Susan goes for her swim before work in the morning, and I go at lunchtime. With this in mind, we have never bathed Jenson, I mean a proper bath with shampoo, etc. We naturally assume he is clean after his two swims a day. Susan decided he did need a bath to get all the salt from the seawater off him, so we proceeded with caution.

Jenson calmly gave in to the process of getting a wash. Flea and tick shampoo bought from the renowned haberdashery store - Haskins -  was used, and he did seem to be enjoying it for a while; then he decided it was enough and had a good shake. Needless to say, Susan and I were covered in dog shampoo. He does feel softer, and hopefully the treatment has killed off all the fleas and ticks he might have had. I must say, he does not seem to have post-traumatic stress disorder (PDSD), that is a mental health condition triggered by experiencing a life-threatening bath. We will see what he does the next time we take the hosepipe out to water the garden.

Other news. Lady Lauren Bell-Brown was forced to pull out of a marathon race while leading a star-studded field of athletes. She twisted her ankle. We wish her a swift recovery and cannot wait to see her competing at the highest level again. LB, I leave you with this thought;

Be proud of yourself for the battles you fought quietly,

For the nights you held yourself together when no one knew you were falling apart.

For every morning you still got up and chose to keep going. Not all strength is loud; sometimes strength is simply refusing to give up.