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The drive home from Mum's was more eventful on account of a mini thunderstorm, much rain, and some localised flooding. All cleared up once I passed sufficiently north of the south downs.
Much excitement here as the washer-drier, which was supposed to be drying towels, decided instead to grind to a halt, display an error code, and disseminate an odd kind of burning smell
I turned it off, but I didn't know where it's plugged in because some kitchen designer apparently thought plugs are ugly and hid that away somewhere. I gave it a couple of minutes but the unpleasant smell, reminiscent of an unhappy electric motor or circuit board, continued to linger. I couldn't pull it out; it's not built in but it was firmly wedged in its just-big-enough gap. So I decided my only option was to call the fire brigade
I went down to the road once they were on their way, and they arrived less than ten minutes after my call, so I stepped out into the road and made like a windmill. Then they came up with me and I took the incident manager in to have a look while a few more followed.
Her infrared camera didn't show any problems at the front or around the edges. I turned the power off at the main fusebox while one of the firemen tried to pull it out, but he couldn't get a decent grip on it and the door was still locked. So I went and turned the power back on and he played with the dial until I heard the "click" of the solenoid undoing. With the door open, he managed to pull it out OK, while I went and turned the power off again. They didn't identify any burning round the back either, but they tracked down where it was plugged in (in an adjacent cupboard, and partway round a corner at about floor height, which explains why I couldn't find it) and unplugged it, and also disconnected the drain hose.
Once they were satisfied it wasn't actually burning, they gave me various bits of advice such as not using it again until a service engineer had had a look, and tested my smoke detectors (which were OK). Then off they went again - though they did push it back in again for me.
So now I have a washer-drier that I can't use, and a load of wet towels
But at least the place almost certainly isn't on fire
Upon reading the manual for the water-drier, it seems the error code it displayed denotes problems with draining. Given the odd grinding noises it made a few times shortly before giving up, and the aroma of burnt electric motor that still lingers around it, I'm guessing the drain pump has burnt out
Now I need to decide whether it's worth repairing or if I should just get a replacement. I might get it fixed, as it's a decent enough machine. Looking on John Lewis's website at a roughly equivalent modern Bosch that I'd probably get as a replacement, I see an unhappy customer saying that they've been informed that the problems they've encountered might be addressed in a software update scheduled for August. Most other customers are very happy but I ask myself, do I want a washing machine that needs software updates? Maybe older is better
It's more cloud than not out there today, though there are some blue bits. Fair bit of rain last night. It's 13°C ("feels like" 9° with a northerly breeze) and aiming for 19°, though this respite will be brief as we're moving back into heatwave territory heading into the weekend. The barometers are back up to 1000/1008mB
The aroma of scorched windings seems to have finally dissipated in the kitchen
Morning all
On parts of our walk we noticed places where there were signs of dampness. No evidence of real rain.
Ominous clouds out as well, and since we came in there are a few spots on my car, but it looks like that will have dried off in the next few minutes.
For some reason I stayed up and watched Die Hard 2 last night, and realised there were several parts of the plot I had forgotten. Also a bit shocked to discover it came out 35 years ago. I'm old.
^^^ You're old? There was a programme about Andy Pandy on last night. I recall watching that in glorious black & white nearly 70 years ago.
Morning.
Monday apparently.
Dry.
Grey.
Wanly sunny.
Cool in here at 20.3 deg, 21 in the kitchen, 19 in the leanto.
1008 mBar, 29.77 in Hg, 756.1 Torr, 14.62 psi, (up from 1004 last night), 67% RH (Lidl electric).
Meanwhile on the 30th of January 2020 wattaj had a jam sandwich which then inspired LM to have some jammy shortcake, I was in with the hoi polloi, the sun being out though it was damp, whereas WTFH declared it sunless where he was and his chickens were getting wet, Brillo recycled some batteries, and DaveB informed us that the A10 Warthog was still a thing, with BR14 popping in, unimpressed with the morningness.
Lunch: brunch. Entertainment: the 11:45 thing on R4, "The Secret Painter" plus the last 15 minutes of "The State of Terror" about 7/7 etc.
More potching in the garage. Them screws won't sort themselves. .
Plod chopper circling overhead.
Next door (both sides) with washing out.
Tea: chilli con carne (Tesco, tinned, 3 bean) with rice etc.
Entertainment: Rewind. PM.
Seem to have a mild touch of hayfever. Dunno what's happened this year, it's normally much worse: terminal by the middle of June.
Skinwalker Ranch: let's see what they raise this week: maybe some analysis of last week's epic experiments. Inneresting: that's it for this year apart from another couple of those half hour Behind the Gate things next week.
Other other other other other book. Stone me Welchman must have been a lot brighter than I am. . Within 3 months he'd derived the sheets with holes punched thing for "females" from first principles (the Poles had already come up with the idea but he didn't know that & wasn't told about it and was supposed to be doing traffic analysis) then on to the diagonal board for the Bombe that really really impressed Turing. These people were frighteningly bright.
Just as well really or I wouldn't be here typing this. .
Felt a bit odd today so improved matters with a couple of tots of Aldi Single Malt (Islay). It's rather pleasant. And cheap.
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