New washing machine

Okay, so it's been a while. Sorry. I've been pretty busy at school.

Our new washing machine finally arrived yesterday. Our old one, a Simpson Riviera 429, has been playing up for about 18 months. It has a problem with agitating during the wash cycle. On a good day, it would do one load just fine, but get sullen and refuse to move at the start of the second. Occasionally it could be provoked into agitating if we tricked it by moving the dial into the deep rinse part of the cycle. But on a bad day, nothing worked, not even unplugging the thing and leaving it sit for half an hour, nor giving it a good talking to.

So two weeks ago we ordered a new washing machine, a Fisher & Paykel AquaSmart WL70T60CW1, from the Good Guys. Unfortunately, due to delivery issues, although we believe there are some -CW1s in Mackay, they're not at the Good Guys. So yesterday they gave us a call and offered us a WL70T60DW1 instead. This is almost exactly the same, but with the older LED panel instead of the new LCD one.

We decided it would do just fine. It was delivered yesterday around lunch time. Here it is connected up in our laundry:


It has a “low profile agitator”. It's designed to work like a front-loader: with a little bit of water in the bottom, rolling and flopping the clothes into the water, rather than immersing them deep in a full tub. (It has a “low efficiency mode” which does a deep wash and rinse, though—using more than double the amount of water.)


Now all we need is for the rain to stop long enough for the sheets and towels to dry…

Part of the family

Laetitia keeps reminding me that I haven't posted to my blog for a while, so here goes..

This afternoon she told me something very touching. Her mum has offered us their piano (I have no idea how we could possibly get it up here to Mackay!) because I'm “the only person in the family who (still) plays piano”. Why do I find that touching? It shows that she considers me part of her family.

Meanwhile, we've just been offered a 13-month extension to our lease here (until early January 2009), which means we don't have to worry about finding somewhere to live for next year. For those who don't know, we currently live directly over the fence from the school where I work—I can even connect to the school's wireless network from our dining room table, on a good day. This is very convenient, as it saves us from needing two cars (or alternatively from organising a complicated schedule that would get us both to work on time). But it can be almost too convenient: it can sometimes be hard for me to leave my work behind when I come home, and it's almost too easy for me to go in to the staffroom on a weekend.

Speaking of two cars, we're still trying to sell our Volvo 440. Know anyone who wants one?