Zen and the Art of Washing Machine Maintenance...

Did you know that an over abundance of bicarbonate of soda can render a soapy after taste in your baking? I learnt that today which kinda put a dampner on my mood when I only realized the measurement mistake after the second batch.

Just as I consigned the second batch to the bin, the washing machine started to whine like a banshee to the tune that only a metallic artifact in one of it's pumps could ellicit. Seeing as it was only about 2 months since we last got it fixed, my mood went steadily deeper down.

A wee re-prioritisation later, a quick overhaul of the bike to prepare it for the commute tomorrow and I decided to fix not only my mood but also the baking and lo and behold, the washing machine as well. It's marvellous what a bit fixing and learning can do for ones inner balance.

Coincidentally, I just started re-reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence today whilst waiting aimlessly for jury duty which ended up not materialising in the end. The book deals with the sort of issues I went through today and most definitely I wouldn't have managed to re-do the baking unless my mindset had been fixed by tinkering and fixing the washing machine.

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Notes on the Picture...
It turned out that the washing machine pump was whining about trying to process a fifty pence and a football pump adaptor. Quite rightly so. I heard it's whining and knew the vague source within the machine. Took it apart and managed to extract the stow aways and put it back together. These blue circles are my way of telling myself where screws go for re-assembly. If I've a circle without a screw, I've screwed up somewhere.

ps EcoDad, If you're reading this, I found your football pump adaptor that I told you I'd lost and replaced.