Back in October 2022 (while I had Covid) the washing machine that came with the apartment suddenly flooded everywhere so I called the landlord and he showed up with a replacement machine the next day. Except it turned out the problem wasn’t the machine, it was a backup in the drains. But by the time we realised that they had already swapped machines so I ended up with a different second hand one that frankly didn’t work as well as the original one. Boo.

Fast forward to January this year and suddenly the machine was making a noise during the spin cycle like a 747 about to take off. Landlords didn’t seem too keen to do anything about it as long as the machine was still working but then a couple of weeks ago it started leaving grease stains on our clothes.

Long story short… got this brand new machine installed this morning, after agreeing to pay half. I just wanted to get the crap one replaced asap rather than wait for them to do something (or maybe bring another crap second hand one) and I didn’t want anymore clothes/sheets ruined. So that’s done! I’m hoping this means they plan on keeping the apartment (with me in it!) when the contract has to be renewed this summer. And now I just have to figure out why an “Eco Wash” takes over 3 hours…

This was not supposed to happen. It all started back in 2017 when I had to buy light fixtures for the latest Casa Azahar and, for the most part, I chose well. Simple designs. Or better said, simple EASY TO CLEAN designs. But somehow I kinda really liked that silly chandeliery lamp for my bedroom (top right). No problem, the landlord had his guy come over and install the lights for me and so I wasn’t paying a lot of attention when Tony Black Hands had to remove the mattress on my bed to slide a ladder between the opened drawers… the only way of accessing the fixture.

After that it was enough that the lamp was dusted from time to time from the foot of the bed using a long dustery thing. But for some reason yesterday I decided that the lamp needed a serious damp-cloth cleaning, nothing else would do. Well fuck. FOUR HOURS LATER…

Yes the lamp was looking great but Peter and I were wasted (I could not have done this without his help). Had to almost totally deconstruct the bed, the drawers were emptied and washed, floor swept and mopped and ONLY THEN could the lamp be properly cleaned. After some serious slapstick moments with more than a few bumps, bruises and blue language (while the cats decided this was the best fun they’d had in ages) the deed was done. There was nothing left to do but order take-away pizza and spend the rest of the day netflixing. And yes I know, but you have been warned time and time again that this is the world’s most boring blog. 😉