Fraught weekend

I just had a fraught weekend. It began ominously with my left neck and shoulder injury flaring up. I was miserable at work. I know I have to do something about it sooner or later because I cannot go on taking all these pain killers forever! Anyway, when I got home hubby was ill as well with a nasty chesty cough. I find Friday nights exhausting. It’s that time when I feel I just had enough of thinking and working. All I want to do is “veg” out but of course there’s the housework to be done. Last Friday I was truly knackered that I didn’t even bother. I was in bed by 8.30pm. All I wanted to do was to read my book, take another pain killer and hopefully get some sleep.

I woke up on Saturday feeling fragile. I started the laundry and was cooking myself some breakfast when I heard a fuse go off. Luckily enough the washing machine has almost done the spin cycle. I was washing my white cotton bedsheets and I didn’t relish the idea of wringing them manually. I went outside in the garage to check the circuit breaker. Yes, it was damn cold too! I flicked the switch but it cut off electricity immediately so I went back to the utility room, turned the washing machine off and tried flicking the switch in the circuit breaker back on. It did…but that meant bad news. My washing machine has gone kaput! What???? I suppressed a maniacal scream. I had to stop myself from going berserk. That was the last thing I needed. I had a mountain of washing to do, it was cold and freezing outside and I felt like the hunchback of Notre Dame with my swollen shoulder. I soldiered on with the weekly cleaning but every time I passed by the utility room I felt sick. Hubby valiantly tried to check what was wrong with the damn thing but I couldn’t face paying a fortune for the repair. This was the third time the machine broke down in seven years and I am fed up with it! Nope. I decided to buy a new one. Sounds drastic huh? But with a new one costing £250 (incl delivery, installation and scrapping the old one) and one year warranty thrown with it etc, I quickly found the prospect of buying a brand new machine quite appealing. The last time I had the machine repaired it cost me £75 and that was four years ago! This time I am going to buy a straightforward washing machine not like this one which is a washer dryer. The dryer conked out a couple of years ago which prompted me to buy a separate dryer, which is heaven sent!

With my mind made up I quickly searched the internet for a replacement. It’s a good thing I did because I got a good discount from my usual High Street store (Currys). The machine will be delivered next Sunday! Yes! But my troubles weren’t over yet because I still had a mountain of washing to do and hand washing was NOT an option. Yesterday we went to a laundrette in Axminster. It cost £6 for two washes and I had to fumble with the coins. It was the first time I did something like that. I had no idea what a time waster exercise it was! It took half an hour for the washing but I didn’t bother to dry the clothes there. We quickly went home and I was so pleased to use my own dryer to dry the clothes. Later I ironed my business shirts. Amidst all the palaver I managed to cook a beef stew in the slow cooker. That eased the stress of having to cook on Sunday night.

My shoulder is still dodgy but I am now applying hot compress on the afflicted area. Hubby insists I should see a chiropractor. We’ll see. This week and next I shall be doing an annual assessment of my staff. It is not something I look forward to. People management is a thankless job and that is one thing I least enjoy. I have enough problems of my own to listen to everybody else’s problems. All I want to do is get on with my work and I do wish other people just do the same thing instead of constantly complaining. No, I do not want to hear another complaint about the damn weather!