Draining

I was all for being lazy again today but it turned into a bit of a day of cleaning.  I needed to vacuum the attic floor because it accumulates dead beasties at a rate of knots, but opening the hatch will dump a load of them all over your face, or better, on the carpet, which means having Henri's pumped up industrial cousin to hand first.  And so it seemed sensible to do the rest of the house first.

Then it was time for a load of washing, but first, let's check and clean the filter.  All scrubbed and clean and reinstalled, let's go!  Except that for the entire cycle, the machine dribbled soapy water onto the floor.  Last time, it was dribbling out Nikwax-impregnated water between the main gasket and the door.  Eventually I pulled the inspection flap open again, and discovered it was all coming out of the little pipe that drains the filter.  Bah.  I've put it back in with some silicone grease on the rubber seals that are probably past their best anyway, and screwed it in as tight as I dared.  It's a Miele, it is required to carry on working!

In the afternoon I cycled to IKEA.  I ought to have fired up Madame Fidra and done a few miles but it was cold and I just didn't feel like it.  I had a look at cupboardy units to hang on the wall above my computer desk: something that I can put a hi-fi amp in, perhaps.  I liked the look of a black painted BESTA unit with smoked glass doors.  I thought oak would be more in keeping with the furniture, and less of a looming black thing above my monitors, but then, the speakers are big, looming black things anyway.  It's academic: I still haven't put up the loudspeaker brackets, nor have I decided which speakers to hang on them.  It will probably be next year before I manage to decide.

On the way to IKEA I went to the big pond to see how the swans are doing.  The two younglings are busily shedding their brown feathers and are starting to look quite grown up.