Things can only get better

Dear me Blog,

What a day I had yesterday.

Things can only get better, I’m thinking.

Early morning and the washing machine wouldn’t work ... piles of washing ...a few strategic kicks made no difference, it still refused to work. Switching the electricity off and on a few times and the machine still refused to cooperate. I started to dismantle the thing! The lid took a bit of releasing but the internet solved that ‘Thump the rear of the top cover with the palms of both hands in a direction away from the front of the machine’! I kid you not. So I did ... big thump and it worked!!!! Off came the lid. So far so good. Things are getting  better, I said to myself. The mother control board took a bit of releasing but I finally got it detached from the machine. The micro switch control was missing!!! It measured about 3mm square, I kid you not. Tidgy it was. I searched the bottom of the machine with a torch and saw the little blighter lodged under the base of the drum. I managed to get it out with a piece of bluetac stuck to the base of a walking stick. The five tiny solder welds had given way. I searched the internet ... a replacement board would be £75, thank you very much. £75 for five tiny pieces of solder, I ask you. £75!! Not if I can help it, matey boy. I went into town and visited the computer shops ‘No we do not do soldering’!! Visited different jewellers. ‘A difficult job, and the chances are the solder would not be controlled well enough not spread onto the rest of the board thereby causing a short circuit’ One jeweller only, the rest weren’t interested. Things can only get better, said Mr. Blair or was it Mr. Kinnock? Who did I know who had the ability to fine solder? No one!!! So I got a piece of insulation tape and carefully stuck the switch in place on the control board making sure all the 5 contacts touched their respective terminals. I reassembled the machine and asked my wife for a pile of washing. She couldn’t believe her luck; she was quite disappointed at missing her trips down to the laundrette in the village for the next couple of months. Switched on, and HEYPRESTO. I have a working washing machine. The downside is that I did not replace the cover switch on purpose so that I could keep a check to see if the insulation tape was still doing its job ... I have now to switch on the electricity, and select the required programme, with the tip of an insulated screwdriver!!! Things have only got better. Do you know of anyone who can solder, Blog? I have a £500 washing machine only working because it is held together by one centimetre of insulation tape, colour black! I went for a trudge in the evening .... I told you that I tumble trotted on Saturday, didn’t I Blog, and hurt my arm and knee which are very sore still; and guess what?? I went a**e over t*t again .... and the worst part about my repeat performance was that my false teeth shot out of my mouth along the country path in front of me. I tried to clean them up with a bit of spit and a rub, but I must admit that it was not too successful. It was a gritty run back to the changing-rooms; I really had the bit between my teeth. Before last Christmas, as I was just getting into this trudging lark for the London Marathon to raise funds for my two children’s charities, Tiny Tims Children’s Centre and Newlife, I took a bad tumble and hurt my collarbone; ten months later, that is NOW, it is still keeping me awake at night, particularly sore when I try to pull, hammer or saw when doing odd jobs about the estate. Well I landed on my right side and damaged the same collarbone. Things can only get better, as they say. I did not sleep very well last night. I got up as usual about 6:30am this morning, had my breakfast and guess what? I fell asleep in the chair!!! Oh, and I couldn’t pull my socks on, the pain was too severe; pulling my vest and pullover on was bad enough. Things must get better. Now, the question is, ‘How am I going to trudge today?’ The answer is ‘With difficulty’!! And the other question is ‘What am I going to do with my spare £75?’

                                                       Things can only get better.

                                                                         Colin