vilakins | Revenge of the Domestic Appliances

I think appliances pick the worst time to break down, just to pay us back for taking them for granted. Mostly during the Christmas holiday when the country stops for three weeks because it's also summer.

My mother's oven broke down then so she had to use an electric frypan for meals. Our hot-water ripple meter failed the day before Greg's mother came to stay for a week, but a tech came out and fixed it in time. Then another Christmas holiday, our washing machine almost blew up, billowing smoke during its spin cycle, so we had to go out and buy a new one.

This year it's the fridge. I suspected it when the tiramisu ice cream was soft, but thought it might be the alcohol content. However the Yorkshire puds I put in the freezer are soft too, so we put a digital thermometer in and found it's only -4C instead of the -18C it's meant to be. Oh, joy. It's 14 years old though, so we just went out and bought a new fridge which is coming tomorrow. We'd better eat the rest of the ice cream today before it gets any warmer.

We also spent some Whitcoulls vouchers on DVDs (My Name is Earl and a boxed set of seven Asterix films) and bought a new dust-buster that does wet and dry, and had a very nice fish teriyaki for lunch, so it could be worse. Pity whiteware wasn't included in the 20-30% off sale though.

Oh yes, and we got a calendar of 30s - 50s 'monster movie' posters from MoMA which is very cool. I'll scan them in and post them; they're classics.

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I think appliances pick the worst time to break down, just to pay us back for taking them for granted.

Entirely agree. A DVD/VCR combo is not as necessary as a fridge or an oven, but it chose last week to go bang while Mum was trying to watch something. Dad replaced it today, because of the after-Christmas sales being on and all...

Sadly, the fridge was not included in the sales, but for you that wasn't such bad timing.

I'd happily volunteer to help you eat the tiramisu icecream (we have almond semifreddo, also soft because of the liqueur and very yummy :)

I'm sorry to hear about the fridge - that's one of the last things you want breaking down.

I know someone whose washing machine *exploded*. It wasn't pretty...

The calendar sounds good!

Ours was definitely soft because of the sick fridge. I transferred it to the freezer in the ancient drinks fridge in the laundry and it was a lot more solid by the time we finished it off tonight. I'm a bit worried about the other stuff in there. I think I'll chuck the older stuff as -4C really isn't cold enough to kill some bacteria.

Oh, some interest! OK, I'll scan the posters in and post them. :-)

Exploded! I thought smoke was bad enough. :-P

I think that's wise. Bummer about the fridge - that's one of the electricals you really can't do without, but maybe if it *has* to be replaced you'll find a stocktake sale..?

And sorry, I meant to say I'd like to see the posters too :)

Ooops, you *said* that you bought a new one, didn't you?

I don't think my brain is working well tonight...

We already bought one; it's coming tomorrow. It's got some nice features (like separately controlled humidity for fruit and veges) and no space-wasting unused butter conditioner, so I don't mind.

Oh, good. I think they'd make nice icons.

That sounds great! :-)

As for the WM, apparently chunks of it hit the ceiling. Ouch...

Sounds like the pressure cooker my mother had when I was a kid. That thing terrified me. I remember food hanging off the ceiling.

That would terrify me too. :-( Especially if you were asked to clean the ceiling!

Mum used to ask me to hit the valve on top to release pressure and I'd try to whack the thing from the other side of the kitchen. :-P

Aaargh yes, having a fridge/freezer really *is* something that you just take for granted - we build so many of our daily plans/routines around having them! I'm glad that you've got some backup, with the drinks fridge, but it'll be good to get the new one. I hope it arrives as promised...

Me too. I'm a bit concerned about what's in the not-very-freezy freezer now.

Eep, yes, I think I'd be worried, too. With meat, especially (not that that would affect me). Does your home insurance cover loss of food like that? I think mine does, though there's probably an excess that's cunningly set at a level that means it would never be worth claiming

I think ours is too.

Revenge of the Domestic Appliances

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