Things just seem to go wrong

Having replaced the washing machine just after Christmas, in the last couple of weeks we have suffered from a dead dishwasher, dead telly and dead broadband and I've also had terrible toothache and lost the offending gnasher (first casualty in the war against empty gums which I talked about a couple of weeks ago).

Any one of these could have been coped with on its own, but arriving in close proximity was not fun on the old stress levels. And although replacing things (well, not the tooth!) has been expensive we did at least have cash in the bank so haven't got thoughts of repayments to dampen the future.

So, the old JVC 36 inch CRT has been replaced with a really rather nice Sharp 40" LED/LCD flat jobby. Having been generally unimpressed with "New" screens in shops and other people's homes I am pleased to say that with a bit of tweaking on the settings I have got this one to produce a nice, balanced picture with the colours at a suitable level of restraint. And as Mr Murdoch is now giving us a free box and free installation there is a man coming to upgrade us to Sky HD on Saturday. We decided after the trauma of having to upgrade the TV we may as well get the most out of it.

The dishwasher, hoever is more of a pain. After the old one died (taking our electricity with it, praise be for trip switches) we ordered a nice new one (Ariston, with a stonking great reduction on it from the same local firm as did us a good deal on the telly). They happily delivered but refused to install as it needed a hole cutting in the cupboard under the sink as this has larger connectors. When this was resolved and turned on the new one began chucking water all over the floor in minutes. Not good. nothing to do with loose pipes, this is a genuine fault with a brand new appliance. Fortunately they concur and are sending another one this week, but not quick enough for our liking. And the hardboard under the lino has warped with the soaking. Grrrr.

The tooth turned out to have shorter than average roots in a bit of bone that has eroded more than anywhere else in my mouth, so had to go. Annoying as it was otherwise perfectly healthy and unfilled. Still, pain all gone and I can eat crusty bread again.

Now the broadband signal has died. 20 minutes on the phone to India last night proved it is nothing to do with our router (or my reserve ADSL modem), micro filters, extension leads etc so definitely a BT problem. Wonder how long they will take to fix that.

And another funeral of a colleague tomorrow.

Not a happy bunny right now, so hopefully better news next time!

Bum, bum, bum and bum. Don't you justhate when you press cut rather than copy and then when Photo Editor arses up the file you are trying to manipulate you haven't got the original anymore? Or is it just me? Oh well.

More hot and happening dreams last night. One where Joan was coming to work with me, and we were also bringing the cats. Although it was nice to have Barney back from the dead it did kind of tip me off that the whole thing was not real. Then another one later on where I was in a record shop in Derby (but located where I know there used to be a launderette) seeking out some strange and rare cds (and indeed vinyl) while under pressure from some strange young black lad wanting to stick a knife in me if I bought the wrong things. After making the purchase I then took him in to town to the Industrial Museum, which was in the middle of being re-vamped to include modern art as well. So strange sculptures and the like in the middle of displays of jet engines and old cranes. I never will understand my head.

Still, I've made it here in to the office despite the best efforts of Suffolk Coastal District Council to keep me away - got stuck behind a Dustcart while dropping Joan off at work and then further hindered by both a recycling collection wagon and a roadsweeper before getting out of Felixstowe. Must be some kind of conspiracy to keep my hours down. And on arrival have found my new holiday card at last. And only 4 extra days added rather than the five I was expecting (despite Charles getting the full five for starting a week before me but then being off for 7 weeks straight away). Grrrr.