For the past couple of days I've had a little cold. I haven't mentioned it because it was so mild, but yesterday afternoon it suddenly ratcheted up to a whole new level -- I was shivering and coughing with a low fever, and I called in sick today. I didn't have much to do at work anyway. Tomorrow I have first aid training (ironic!) so I'm hoping I can be there for that, hopefully without infecting everyone else with germs passed on via the plastic CPR dummy. (Do they still use those?)
Yesterday was the last day of school for students, and I got asked to sign a couple of yearbooks, which always makes me feel good. I'm glad I make enough of an impact for kids to want to remember me!
When I was in elementary school, I remember one year trying to get everyone to sign my yearbook. All the teachers, the secretaries, the lunch ladies, the custodians. Some of them thought I was pulling their leg, but I wonder if secretly they were flattered?
Anybody want a fax machine? Yeah, me neither.
We had a repairman come yesterday to fix our leaking dishwasher. He dismantled the pipes in the back and found a hunk of old pipe inside the other pipes, blocking the outflow. He thinks it's been there since the dishwasher was installed, and only lately, with the accretion of old soap and lime and other materials I'd rather not think about, did it become a blockage serious enough to cause leaking.
Fortunately, no mice came rocketing out from under the machine when he moved it.
I think the problem is now resolved and my hope is that the warped kitchen floor will flatten out a bit once it gets good and dry. Meanwhile, we paid for this repairman -- £72 -- and I'm going to approach the management to try to take it off our rent. We'll see!
(Top photo: A colorfully planted fire escape near school.)
I like the first picture a lot, just shows what a few flowers can do to quite a bleak looking set of stairs. I wouldn't know what to do with a fax machine and they look a bit past it, lol.
ReplyDeleteDo you get all of the school holidays off I wonder.
Briony
x
I hope that you do get to snog with the plastic dummy tomorrow. Be gentle with him as he is a victim of serial abuse.
ReplyDeleteStill coughing here...I hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteBusinesses here still use fax machines quite a bit. Individuals, on the other hand ...
ReplyDeleteI hope you feel better quickly. Don't people use masks or something these days when they're giving real CPR? You'd think they'd have some sort of germ control for classes!
I'm so sorry you're sick! Summer colds can be mean.
ReplyDeleteOf course you should get the repair price off your rent! You pay for a functioning dishwasher and a flat floor too!
It makes me feel better about humankind when I see flowers growing in unlikely places. Someone cares.
if management won't take care of a problem in a timely manner then they should at the very least allow you to take repairs off your rent. they probably won't though. and bummer about the cold. maybe they will have those thin plastic shields at the CPR class though they didn't the last time I took it, just an alcohol swab to clean the mouth. I don't know why they still teach it. it doesn't really work and you have to break someone's ribs for it to even have a chance.
ReplyDeleteWhenever you see things like that issue with your pipe, don't you wonder what on earth the person who did it was thinking?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure all the teachers, staff, custodians, and lunch ladies were delighted to be asked to sign your year book!
ReplyDeleteHi Steve, As you are under the weather I'll let you off going out to find those boots for me.
ReplyDeleteIf they were not a size 3, then they wouldn't fit me anyway. I wanted to send you some pics, but I can't attach them to your comments, only to your own e-mail address. I would love to tell you my mouse story, but I'll wait till you're feeling better, or you might die laughing, and we wouldn't want that, would we? Love to Dave and Olga (not necessarily in that order).
PS I would have signed your Year Book.
Your first picture is an artwork.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you're not feeling well. I hope you're not too sick to at least enjoy being home from work. I love the fierce geometry of that top photo. As for the fax machines, now that we have phone apps that can scan documents perfectly to be emailed, who needs a fax machine anymore? Another dinosaur, like LP record players and walkmans.
ReplyDeleteI am still marveling at our fax machine, I am so far behind- the radio mystifies me. So sorry you have a summer cold. ICK. At least BOOTS has every cold remedy ever invented. There's that. But I am sorry for you. Unpleasant!
ReplyDeleteBriony: Those fax machines DO look tired, don't they? Our holidays begin Monday and last (for me) until the second week of August.
ReplyDeleteYP: Personally, I think he likes it.
E: Oh no! Hope you recover soon!
Jenny-O: Really? Why would anyone fax anything these days? I would have thought scanners put faxes out of business entirely. I'm sure they do have some kind of protective barrier for the dummy -- and actually we don't do mouth-to-mouth anymore. I think someone decided it's not necessary, even when providing CPR.
Ms Moon: Can I put you in touch with my landlord? LOL
Ellen: Well, I suppose their rationale is, broken ribs are better than death!
Sharon: Absolutely. Some of these repair guys come in and do such a slap-dash job.
Colette: I hope so! They probably just thought I was peculiar, which I was.
Lesley: Thank you for signing my virtual yearbook, LOL! I honestly did not even begin to notice the size on those boots, but maybe this weekend I'll wander up that way and see if they're still there!
Catalyst: Thanks! Whoever is growing the flowers deserves the real credit.
37P: But LP record players are coming back! Do you think anyone will ever have a nostalgic obsession with collecting old fax machines? Maybe I should grab them and put them on eBay!
Linda Sue: It is, but in the scheme of things it's a minor problem, I suppose.
Faxes have some advantages over scanners - they're quicker (one step rather than several to get the document sent) and they are less subject to alteration. In accounting and legal offices those are both important. Since you asked!
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