Kettling

Today started badly, after the last night with back ache and little sleep on our very uncomfortable mattress the kettle then did not work. For some strange reason hitting it did not fix it so I then threw my toys out of the pram. This did not fix it either.

After slowly boiling a pan of water and making a horrid tea my wife reminded me we had a microwave. I used this later after she had gone out and had a much nicer coffee.

Thankfully the day soon got better with the arrival of our new mattress. I am pinning my hopes on this helping my back problems get better as am bored of pain killers with breakfast.

After a morning of work, where nothing worked, I picked up Toddler in the car from nursery in the rain and we headed out. This morning when I saw the weather I was not sure what to do with Toddler this afternoon, however the kettle issue had now given us an activity.

So the plan was to make the short five to ten minute journey to the big orange supermarket to buy some food and a kettle. Toddler's car sickness is now back with us once again making us prisoners of Portsmouth though I was feeling confident she could manage this short journey.

Halfway into the journey we had to make our first stop as the first signs of illness occurred. After getting a bit of air Toddler insisted that we still go to the shops so we battled on. Half a mile down the road we had to pull over again. I thought it was time to go home but toddler was desperate to ride in a trolley so we decided to go to the nearer not so big yellow supermarket.

Well we got there and rode the trolley and bought a load of snacks that we didn't really need, though they did not sell kettles. Luckily there was a big retail park not far away that would also break up the journey home.

The retail park had three shops that sold kettles and so the mission began. Wife had told me she was not bothered what type of kettle we got but she did not want a cheapy one and I did not want a pricey one either.

The first shop only had one that seemed nice enough but I like to shop around, the second shop had a blue one toddler wanted but I could not bring myself to spend £80 on a kettle, it also had the same one we liked in the other shop at a better price. The third shop had more options and a choice of three that fitted our requirements and budget. Toddler liked the colourful one and while I had a closer look she managed to pull the lid off another one and hit me in the eye with it. She was very sorry and considering she was very bored and really wanted to ride the escalator she was still coping well, even if my eye wasn't. The colourful one was the best but on closer inspection the capacity was wrong on the shelf label. So we then went back to the previous shop to get the one we liked at the right price but it was out of stock. We then went to the first to get them to price match but they claimed that even though it was identical it was a different model. So we started the choosing process all over again.

Every three years or so I seem to have to buy a new kettle and evey time it is a worse and worse experience. At least we got home healthy without the need for a clean up and toddler was really happy to see an old kingsize mattress in her room that she can bounce and bounce on.

So after visiting Currys twice, Homebase four times (though once just to see Noddy) and Comet three times we got a new kettle. We ended up going for the colourful, purple, slightly smaller one and I have to say it makes a lovely cup of tea. The extra bonus is that it is not so loud as our last one, meaning we can now talk and make a cup of tea at the same time, so I can finally find out what multitasking is all about.

I took this picture in the second shop and got told off. Apparently pictures of Toddler in Homebase are considered a security risk. To be fair they may have a point.

Now off for a good nights sleep, hopefully.