Marigolds and a Torque Wrench Please...

Have you ever noticed how, when the significant other in your life (SO, the one who fixes everything) goes away for a few days, in this case, months, the clutch on the car will go. The washing machine will flood the utility and little Johnny will get a puncture on his pushbike?

I actually think it's worse when SO has tried to 'help' before his departure, but that's probably an entirely different blog. Just to add to the fun he's left behind to deal with, I switched the dishwasher on as normal, as I was retiring to my bed. It gurgled at me, hummed for a while, beeped and flashed an error message at me. A new one, one that doesn't clear if you turn it off, open the door, close it and switch back on.

Pants.

No, that wasn't the cause of my problems. I deny ever having tried to freshen my frillies in the dishwasher, although I have heard you can dry socks in the microwave...

Ofcourse, it's only going to happen at 10.30pm, Maundy Thursday, when SO is out ot the country, the dishwasher is FULL and we had fish and chips for tea. Can I bear the stench if I don't empty it and wash up in the morning? Pass the marigolds, please. Then you have those silly ideas that "I can fix this, who needs a man?". Out comes the bottom tray and I find myself nearly to the brim of my gloves fiddling with the filter. Only the odd chip end, a few peas, nothing to cause a major blockage.

I am ashamed to admit I resorted to consulting a man, but my brother-in-law is actually better than the average bear and a few of his suggestions made sense. Apart from the one about ringing an engineer. I don't need one of those! I'll just give in and buy a new dishwasher!!

As I approached the offending appliance for a rematch, I had another idea. What if I switch it off at the mains? Haven't tried that. Then on again, select programme, depress button and hey presto, dishwasher hums into life, empties it's drain and begins to wash. Hurrah! Who needs a man who can with his little white van.

And you can keep the torque wrench...