I have blogged on this subject many times without ever being convinced by the comments of others, "pure coincidence", or "just bad timing" they say.
For some reason my household goods have ganged up on me again and are out to spoil my brief break from work.
A short while before Christmas my pull-cord bathroom light failed to work, so, thinking the bulb had gone I dragged the ten-ton step ladder upstairs and removed the bulb replacing it with a new one.
The bulb would not 'take' or 'attach' properly to the fitting so with the help of my cleaning lady I got hold of a good local electrician who came round had a look and told me the fitting was broken and needed replacing. This he did, fitted the old bulb which was perfectly OK and he also tightened a link in the pull cord.
Wonderful I thought, so quick, so efficient and cheap too. Glad it was done before Christmas.
On Christmas Eve my watch stopped. Too late to get a battery, so no watch over Christmas. A nuisance but not essential.
Later on Christmas Eve my ancient electric kettle started to leak. Oh well, I thought, I have a replacement bought a while ago in the kitchen cupboard, when I have time I'll throw out the leaking one and start using the new one.
After the Christmas morning service (and about 3 hours sleep) I got out the new kettle, put some water in it intending to boil and throw away the first lot of water.
Putting the kettle on its base I plugged it in and went to switch it on. No switch!
For some reason when I had bought it 18 months ago I had simply thrown the box away and put the kettle into a cupboard thinking it would be handy to keep it in the kitchen for when the other one finally packed up.
How I had failed to notice it had no switch I don't know, but one thing was certain, no store was going to replace a kettle bought 18 months ago, or believe that I had not broken off the switch.
Yesterday I bought another kettle, this time I asked them to open the box and check nothing was missing before I would pay for it.
Now I have two kettles to throw away.
What next I wonder?
I am resolutely 'not noticing' that the water in the taps is running hot and I haven't put the water heater on..
My mother calls this "the resident evil of things" i.e dead stuff like chairs, lamps, devices... our youngest, the 14 year old, are quite convinced that some things in her surrounding is constantly giving her the "evil eye" and make a fuzz only for her sake, never for ours. I couldn't help laughing, you have such a way with words, but I also recognize myself in this!! Such incidents are just happening, it has nothing to do with bad luck or fate, they just happend. In our house they often happend because we have failed to do something, maintenance perhaps, check-ups. Some times we are in a hurry and fibble with things.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Ray, there is no ghost in the machinery and no resident evil, but from this day on I will always check if there is a switch on new electric devices......Happy New Year, Ray, may it be somewhat brighter, more hopeful and easier to handle. And may your roses rest quietly waiting for spring. God bless you!!!!
Solveig, I believe you when you say there is no ghost in your machinery, mine is another matter entirely.
DeleteCertainly things wear out and need replacing from time to time, but all at once?
However much I might disagree with your diagnosis of my malevolent household goods, I am so happy to have your opinion (with your excellent but slightly eccentric English) - what does fibble mean?
God Bless you also, and a Happy New Year.
Fibble? well, it's my own, very intelligent (hm?) and creative translation of a swedish, nondictionary word, with the meaning of: "handling things in a somewhat clumsy, absentminded way, believing you are doing great". I do find similar , odd words in blogposts close to me, and when I do I ask, in order to extend my vocabulary.
DeleteAnd I am so happy to have you in my blogworld, Ray!
God bless!!!
Ray I share your conviction that various appliances are out to get me!
ReplyDeleteNo logical explanation will convince me otherwise... they even follow me around the world! We both know this...so we have learned to live with it and them...Please have a very good New year...love Jean
Of course we know the truth Jean, it's just that the rest of the world is not as well informed as we is.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you too.
How annoying it is when several go at the same time and the most inconvenient period. We once had a power cut on a freezing cold night in the middle of a children's party.There were lots of sausage rolls and pizzas in the (now non functioning) oven. Fifteen hungry excited children, no lights, no power, couldn't find the candles, one torch working with a very weak beam, couldn't find spare batteries, two hours or more until the other parents arrived...
ReplyDeleteWow, that beats my tale of woe by a mile. Did the children ever speak to you again?
ReplyDeleteWe borrowed torches/ candles from a neighbour, ordered pizza from Dominos and we had the cake in the meantime before the pizza and let them have their party bags to open. I think they quite enjoyed it...
ReplyDeleteAh, good to know that the world does continue even when absolutely everything goes wrong and the material world have joined forces against us!!! Lovely story, Suem, I think we could actually write a bestseller if we collected some good stories here on blogger....
Delete