Sunday, May 31, 2015

Coffee and a Banana


We seem to be coming to a place where nothing works around here.

I've already mentioned our washing machine Niagara. We thought we had that fixed, but the other day when I did a load of laundry -- with no other water-using appliances running -- I found water oozing up from beneath the floorboards in the kitchen. So while it's true the surface of the floor is mostly dry, apparently there's still some leakage beneath.

Our Internet has been sketchy for weeks. It comes and goes, and lately it seems to be mostly going. We have an incredibly weak connection, even when I go sit next to the router. I've been dreading calling our provider because I know they're going to demand that I do all kinds of tweaking on my end, like turning things off and on (which I've already done) and connecting an ethernet cable (which I don't think we even have) to test the line. I just want them to send someone to fix it.

Last night I woke up around 1:30 a.m., incredibly thirsty, so I got up for a drink of water. I went into the kitchen and the dishwasher was still running! Now, I'd started it around 10 p.m. There is no reason why the dishwasher should run for 3 1/2 hours. And according to the timer, it still had about an hour to go. When I opened it, the water inside was sudsy but cold. C'est pas normal.

And finally, my computer no longer seems to work as well as it used to. I have a terrible time downloading pictures from my camera. I have to disconnect and reconnect multiple times -- as many as 10 or 15 -- before the computer will offload the content from the camera's memory card. Dave has been pushing me to get a new computer but this one is only four or five years old. Granted, it's been heavily used -- but I had hoped to get more out of it.


Yesterday we went to school to see the end-of-year dance performance. Before the show we stopped at Starbucks, where the (Polish?) barista had a bit of trouble figuring out my name.

Afterwards, we went to a party at the home of one of Dave's coworkers, near Holborn. You've seen articles about the tiny house movement, right? Well, this guy had a relatively tiny house, but right in the heart of London -- a two-story townhouse with roof garden, but with small rooms, a narrow spiral staircase and a ladder to the roof. We had to climb out of the skylight. It was very spare and free of clutter. I loved it. I'm into small and minimalist, so it was right up my alley.

(Top photo: A banana in our kitchen. That's breakfast this morning!)

9 comments:

alphabet soup said...

A tiny house - just what I need. No space to fill with clutter. No so keen on the idea of a spiral staircase.

Ms Soup

Elizabeth said...

That all sounds very frustrating, and I always wonder what weird machinations in the universe demand that things all seem to go south at once?

The tiny house sounds divine. I honestly nurture the fantasy of running away and getting one.

Mwa said...

Appliance and internet stress are the worst. I try to remember from my mindfulness course that everything will break eventually, and we should expect it, but that only keeps me calm when I know who will fix it, and when, and at a cost I can manage. Luckily I live with an internet guy.

Ms. Moon said...

It's true. It's a fact of life. When one appliance breaks, they all "catch it."
It sucks.

ellen abbott said...

your computer is 4 or 5 years old? that's ancient you know. I guess it's back to hand washing dishes for you. It took me forever to warm up to the dish washer here at the country house (never had one before) but now we are on great terms. I don't want a big house but I would go nuts in a tiny house. Unless I lived alone but even then I don't know. would it be big enough for my art collection?

Sharon said...

I know how you feel when it comes to internet service. I've recently experienced a problem with email where I can receive email but can't send any. After an hour on a "chat" connection with a guy who had me change my password, it still wasn't fixed and then later suddenly fixed itself. Two days later it did it again and not wanting to do the online chat thing again, I called and worked my way through 30 minutes of computerized testing until I finally got a live person to speak to me. She told me that the trouble was on their end and they were working on it. I swear she just told me that to get me off the phone. It's happened again since then and I just waited it out but had to reboot to get it to work correctly. There really has to be a better way for them to provide service.

The Bug said...

I really stress out when the internet doesn't work around here (which is VERY rare thank goodness) - mainly because that means I can't work from home. Ha!

We don't have a dishwasher anymore & there are pluses & minuses. Minus: I have to do the dishes (Mike is not allowed - he's TOO SLOW!!!). Plus: We never run out of plates & forks, which we used to do since there are only two of us & it took so long to fill it up for a load.

Ms. Moon said...

Steve- you have a Mac, right? Have you tried running disc utilities and then doing a restart? Repair your permissions, etc.

37paddington said...

If you have a Mac and an Apple Store nearby, just go to the Genius Bar. Honestly it's like magic. When my Mac got wonky I did that and after the young geniuses ran their diagnostics and rebooted everything it was as spry as if brand new. As for the rest of it, water under the floorboards, not good. I hope you can suss out the problem! And I think tiny houses are adorable but I think I might be claustrophobic in one! Also I imagine you have to be scrupulously neat. I can't imagine a party in a tiny house however but apparently it worked. So much to chew on in this post!