7 February 2016

Another wacky week – temperatures hovering around freezing followed by double-digit highs the next day and then back to freezing cold again. The birds are confused and the daffodils and other Spring bulbs are positively bewildered.

I was delighted to be reminded by Facebook the other day that I have been friends with Penny Stragnell for seven years! I could have sworn we’d been friends longer than that but I’ve reached the stage where I no longer trust my memory so I guess Facebook’s memory is much better than my own. (I have to confess, I didn’t even know I’d been friends with Facebook for that long but again, it must be true).

And speaking, as we were of not trusting one’s memory, Private Eye had a cartoon depicting an elderly couple emerging from a consultation at the local hospital. It’s exactly the conversation I can imagine Penelope and I might have.

So, you’ve not got dementia – you’re just a stupid old git!

The highlight of this week was undoubtedly waiting patiently on Tuesday afternoon for the arrival of the Dyson man! Our Dyson vacuum cleaner has been put through some pretty rough work since we’ve owned it. Looking back at the warranty information, it’s just over two years since we took delivery and, as I say, it has been put through its paces, particularly recently as we knock stuff about and put it back again.

Dyson, as many of you will know, has a tremendous reputation for designing and building very efficient and effective (and expensive) vacuum cleaners, now available in all shapes and sizes and colours. The most recent one we had, however, I have never been overly enamoured with – it’s one that has a ball instead of wheels and the ball is supposed to make manoeuvring around the house and between the furniture easier than it would be with a “normal” vacuum cleaner. After all, the ball can turn on the spot where the wheel-based design requires some sort of turning circle space.

I have to say, I’ve not been convinced but what do I know?

The other day, while I was hoovering the living room, I noticed that the vacuum seemed to be losing a bit of its suction and soon after there was the distinctive smell of burning electrical components. Too much hard work, clearly, and the engine had burned itself out!

Hence, my waiting for the Dyson man to arrive on Tuesday which he duly did, about ten minutes before the opening of his arrival window. His visit took about five minutes – he confirmed that the motor was fried and, while our warranty covered all parts and labour, unfortunately he would not be able to fix it. They’ve changed the design somewhat and the new motors do not fit in the old vacuums.

I’m afraid we had to accept the offer of a brand new one. Not only is the new one, which arrived on Wednesday, a new and improved model, it also comes with a brand new 5 year warranty. With a bit of luck we may never need to buy another vacuum cleaner – just be sure we burn out our Dyson before five years is up!

I also ran across a couple of neat photo galleries in the Guardian this week. The first was a selection of photos of Toronto street scenes reflected in puddles. The second was a gallery of photos from New England – I particularly liked the heart-shaped tree in different seasons.

I guess most of our American readers will have been too preoccupied with the Presidential primaries and the wackiness of some of the candidates to take too much interest in David Cameron’s attempts to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the European Union prior to holding an In/Out referendum later this year. There are those on the right wing of the Conservative party who would like nothing further to do with Europe at all, populated as it is by smelly foreigners who eat funny food and can’t speak English proper. It’s as much as they can stand having to put up with those smelly foreigners when they holiday in their second homes in Spain or France or Italy. In order to hold his party together during the General Election last year Cameron promised a vigorous renegotiation of Britain’s arrangements with the UK to be followed by a referendum. He has now completed his negotiations which could be approved at the next EU summit meeting later this month.

Those on the right wing of his party have been scathing in their assessments of his negotiating efforts – he seems to have asked for very little and achieved even less. Still, the conclusion of his negotiations means that he can now fire the starting pistol for the referendum. As always, Steve Bell had an excellent cartoon summarising the situation. I would put it here but I’m afraid it is somewhat risqué for my mother. So, you’ll have to look at it here if you wish.

Go, Dave, Go!

Love to you all,

Greg