My wife and I’s ordeal with our washing machine is (hopefully) nearing its conclusion. After numerous phone calls and repeated engineer call-outs it has finally been written off and we’re going to get a new one. From a different manufacturer. We’ve been without it for nearly two weeks now and don’t we know it – hand washing is hard work. There is a laundrette locally but I can’t use it – the unfamiliar environment and people cause me too much anxiety. And my wife’s not physically able to get there. So we’re stuck in the laundry equivalent of the dark ages!

It’s not until they go wrong that you realise how much you rely on these machines: washing machine, dryer, cooker, freezer. How on earth did people manage before they had them? No wonder a whole day used to be set aside for doing the laundry.

And then there’s the hassle of getting replacements. At least the internet saves having to physically travel round a bunch of stores to compare models and brands. But you still need to use the phone when it’s an insurance- or warranty-related problem, so it ends up being extremely stressful and exhausting. Not to mention time-consuming: I’ve spent a total of about an hour on the phone over the past couple of days – including the time holding in a queue before I even got to speak to a person. That’s a ridiculous amount of time to sort out a fairly straightforward problem.

Anyway at least we’re now going to be getting a shiny new machine, so this story has a happy ending – a cause for celebration… and speaking of celebration, Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans out there!