Saturday, November 30, 2013

My wonderful washing machine


Tots 100 & Part Select are running a competition at the moment giving bloggers the chance to win a full house clean and £250 of John Lewis vouchers by telling them about their favourite appliance.

Whilst household appliances are not the most exciting topic of conversation, our washing machine has lead quite an interesting life. Well, for a household appliance at least...

I bought it in 2007 when I was a single girl living in military quarters in Germany. Typical to many German houses it lived in the basement. There was plumbing for a tumble drier too, but I couldn't afford one, so the washing machine had a whole floor to itself - I bet even David & Victoria Beckham's new house couldn't top that!

When we got married, we were posted to Canada and my poor washing machine had to go in to storage for two years as it wasn't the right voltage for North America.

Next, the Army moved us to Cyprus, so we filled in the paperwork and requested retrieval of the washing machine from its warehouse. Across the sea it traveled and arrived one hot August afternoon in southern Cyprus, ready for two years duty washing shorts and swimsuits!

But before we knew it we were on the move again, this time to Northern Scotland and I was pregnant. The washing machine was about to face its toughest challenge yet... no not the cold weather kit or even all the baby clothes, my husband had something far worse planned for it!


One day when our son Theo was a small baby, my husband Jim decided to wash an ancient bright orange dry clean only throw in our washing machine. If you've ever wondered what happens to a dry clean only bed throw in a washing machine, I will tell you now... it disintegrates!!!

So the poor washing machine had its guts filled with thousands of tiny pieces of fabric which clogged up all the pipes and machinery. It was not a happy washing machine and it ground to a halt mid-cycle! As you can imagine my husband was not flavour of the month (I never liked the bloomin' throw he was trying to wash anyway!)

Many cross words were exchanged while we worked out a plan. Eventually he forced open the door and soaked up the deluge of water (a drum full!) with every towel we owned, then he spent several hours cleaning out the insides of the machine before tracking down the spare part to replace the latch on it. I was actually quite impressed he managed it!

So apart from the odd orange bit of fluff working its way out of the machine every now and again, it is still going strong and I think Jim learned his lesson about reading washing labels and I learned mine about underestimating my husband's DIY skills!

This blog post is my  entry into the Tots100/PartSelect ’Love Your Appliance’ competition.

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8 comments:

  1. When I first bought my washing machine I (without thought) washed some vintage curtains that disintegrated, but not causing any damage to the machine - just a lot of angst draining the machine from the outlet thingy and picking bits of blue shredded fabric out of the machine!

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  2. We didn't have a washing machine when we bought our first house in 1988. We couldn't afford it - but then came along a baby and I needed it and a dryer so we spent the money.... And Ian went off to Staff College or some course or other in Kingston ON. I stayed in Halifax for 6 mos with the new baby (sound familiar). The basement of the new house flooded (6 inches or so). The washer and dryer were submerged a bit and I wondered if the water was electrified. I thought Sarah needed a mother more than a cat so I picked up my 30th birthday present and threw him into the water... He survived so I got a pail and started bailing and called a friend. Sarah was into the 6 week feeding frenzy so I fed her and bailed and fed her and bailed.... The cat moved to 6 more houses (none of which flooded) and died a few months short of my 50th birthday.... So I love my washer and dryer but even more so when they remain high and dry!

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    1. You have just made me laugh out loud about the cat! It's a sham ethos competition is only open in the Uk otherwise you'd win hands down!! :-)

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  3. my original, and best washing machine was a zanussi bought in 1984 as a wedding gift, and at the time a very generous wedding gift it was. When we moved in 1996 of course it came with us but my husband and his friend dropped it down the back step. It cost £96 to fix, the same as the quote from the removal company we hadn't used to save money! My next washing machine we only had for 18 months. I inadvertently put a packet of "sanitary towels" in the washing machine and thought it was easier to buy a new machine than watch the repair man pick out the bits and hold them up to examine them! (too much information I know). The present machine is thankfully unscathed and working well.

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    1. Oh dear, it seems like most people have had their fair share of disasters with washing machines!

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  4. Your washing machine has had more adventures than most people!

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  5. gosh do they not provide washing machines in service quarters these days? They did back in the 70's.

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  6. Just looked to see who won the comp, I think well deserved after reading this. : )

    @nortonmum

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