Help! I am having a Household Appliance Crisis!
The week before last, after a series of Serious Life-Threatening Illnesses, and in light of the absence of suitable transplant donors, my Vacuum Cleaner finally gave up the ghost.
Last Friday, it was the turn of my Microwave Oven, which had not been in the best of health for some time, but whose condition had not previously been considered life-threatening.
Since they say Troubles come in threes, I was wondering what would be next. This morning, on my return from a series of medical tests for which I was required to fast for 12 hours beforehand, and feeling desperate for a cup of coffee, I had my answer. I found my Electric Kettle, which, until yesterday, had been in (almost) perfect health, devoid of Vital Signs. After a thorough examination, resuscitation was attempted but the Patient failed to respond to treatment and I was forced to confirm its decease.
And I won’t even go into the Mysterious Disappearance of the Potato Peeler…..
THE VIEW FROM THE PALACE 
As long as you have a couple of potato mashers you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
I strongly disagree. The potatoes have to be peeled and cooked before they can be mashed, after all.
my first thought was – make sure you have electricity 🙂
but you did post this, and that requires electricity….
cats? curious, investigating?
At least now you can go to a shop and try to bargain: if i buy this and that, will i get a water cooker for free? or some similar strategy….
I did consider the possibility that one of my cats might have chewed the electric cable (as they did to the cable of my computer mouse, evidently thinking it was Mousie’s tail), but no! There were no kitty tooth-marks anywhere to be seen, so it appears I must acquit them, this time.
The loss of the first two is annoying and expensive. Loss of the ability to make coffee, however, is a domestic emergency. Try to remain calm, but call somebody immediately.
I absolutely agree with you, Rick.
That’s why I have a spare electric kettle. Fortunately, it was in the back of a cupboard in the Utility Room, rather than down in the basement store-room.
Disaster averted!
You have my sympathy. We had the microwave, the fridge-freezer and the iron all go in very short order this year. On top of this, they were preceded by two expensive car breakdowns (clutch and alternator) and followed by a series of cat crises requiring vetinerary treatment and resulting, sadly, in the demise of the one who worshipped my wife.
As for mysterious disappearances, I am convinced that this house swallows some things only to regurgitate them, once replacements have been bought, exactly where you know you didn’t leave them.
If you buy a new potato peeler, the old one will return.
Ian, I don’t even want to think about the possibility of cat crises! I think one of them has a bit of an eye infection and I don’t want to tempt providence by contemplating anything worse.
My deepest condolences on the loss of your furbaby.
It looks like you will have the joy of shopping for replacements now. Whenever that happens to me it is not a pleasurable experience for me because prices have also gone up. Have fun!
I am actually not very fond of shopping. I know this is hard to believe (and, in fact, men never do believe it). I even wrote a blog post about that a while back. In fact, both the microwave oven and the electric kettle were presents so I don’t know how much they cost when I first got them. Fortunately, I have a spare kettle – and I also have another vacuum cleaner which I have brought up from the basement store-room. It, too, is broken but, IMHO, reparable – unlike its now defunct brother. True, it will cost me as much to repair it as to buy a new one (if not more), but it’s a genuine Hoover, so maybe worth it.
Potato peels are healthy. You can mash with the peels on! We have had all the major electrical components replaced in our 13 year old house — heat pump, water heater, dehumidifier, refrigerator, dishwasher, range. I don’t think they make things like they used to. Oh yes, we did replace our toaster. I am hoping the microwave lasts as it’s a built in.
When I am preparing baked or roast potatoes, I don’t peel them, I just wash them thoroughly. But potato peel in creamed potatoes or potato puree just wouldn’t be right. It would spoil the texture.
BTW – have you ever read “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it. It’s a wonderful book, written in epistolary form, about life on the Island of Guernsey during the German Occupation in World War Two.
You are right. They don’t make things like they used to. Once upon a time, things were made to last – and priced accordingly. Now, they expect the consumer to buy a new model every couple of years, and the manufacturing process has been designed to ensure that he or she does so. As my late mother used to say – you get what you pay for. Household appliances are (relatively) cheap, but the workmanship is shoddy and they break easily. However, since it now costs more to mend them than to buy something new, people prefer to buy new – which is exactly what the manufacturers want. It’s called Planned Obsolescence 😉
Get German appliances. The Germans make good appliances. But don’t mention the war.
Even the supposedly “German” appliances seem to be mostly made in China these days.
My sympathies on your appliance crisis. Your appliances must be related to mine. I know they’re in the same country so… i wonder if they’re communicating through a secret system via the electric cables (or our cats, though mine is not fond of electric cables).
My fridge is going to need replacing soon. I quote the technician, “there’s no point in replacing the rubber seal because you’re going to need a new fridge within the year. There’s a hole in the thingy that holds the gas”. OK, he didn’t actually SAY “thingy”. I just can’t remember what it’s called. 🙂
Our dishwasher seal has worn out, and after a minor (or almost major) flood on the kitchen floor the technician said he can’t get a replacement seal because they don’t make that model any more (it’s 16 years old). So we’ve stuck it down with insulating tape and so far tfu tfu tfu it’s holding.
And our washing machine took a very noisy dance across the balcony floor today, almost making my cat lose one of her 9 lives. It’s already been fixed twice before…
Perhaps we should arrange a shopping date? Cheaper by the (half) dozen anyway, don’t you think? 😀
By the way, you can also boil water for coffee in a finjan or pot on the gas. Keep in mind for emergencies 😉
The finjan was being used at the time for boiling an egg 🙂
I think they (the appliances) are all in cahoots! 😉
There is no doubt about that. And now they have roped in my cable TV digital converter to their diabolical plan 😉