Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew ...

... Cuthbert, Dibble ... and me!

Yes, I’ve been firefighting today. Fortunately not in the literal sense, but it has been a pretty full-on day nevertheless.

This morning, I had gone to print something on my small black and white laser printer (which I don’t use all that often, mainly using my colour laser printer for my creative work) but it couldn’t be seen on the new wireless network our son has set up. He was out, so in desperation I found a cable and connected the printer direct to the Mac and was very relieved when it worked. 

Today I had been planning on doing a not very pleasant job, which I hadn’t had time to do until now. A few days ago I went to the cupboard in our garage, where we keep sports equipment and suchlike, to get a packet of soda crystals to put down the sink. Unfortunately, when I unlocked the cupboard, I was met with the sorry sight of piles of white powder all over the shelves, the floor, and also over a bag of golf clubs. The powder was laundry starch – yes, I know, I’m a fusspot! – which I had bought in bulk from Lakeland because not many people stock it these days. (I wonder why?!) The five or six plastic packets of laundry starch were stored on a shelf about 4 feet off the ground, and each one had been well and truly nibbled, creating large holes, out of which had spilled almost all of the contents. The mice must be pretty good at limbo dancing because they first have to come in through our garage doors and then underneath the cupboard door, both of which have gaps of only about half an inch from the floor. 

So today I was intending to clear the cupboard out and dispose of all the verminous evidence (including droppings). Alas, it was not to be, because further dramas ensued, in the shape of a blocked washing machine drain outlet, caused by some large leaves having found their way into the drain outside in the garden where the washing machine discharges its water. The blockage backed the water up until it found its way out in the cupboard under the sink. When I opened the cupboard door I groaned with dismay and was close to tears as I pulled out all the washing powder tubs and fabric conditioner bottles and mopped the lot up with an old towel.

My husband and I cleared the leaves out of the drain as best we could, except that we couldn’t get the metal cover off, it was stuck fast, so we were only able to bring up the bits that we could reach with a long-armed ‘grabber’ down a narrow gap at the back. We have booked our handyman friend to come and hopefully clear it for us tomorrow, because I don’t want to use the washing machine again until it’s fixed. Fortunately I had done all the washing before it happened and was completely up to date.

Once that was sorted, I then went up to the airing cupboard with the three baskets of laundry that I’d just ironed (not much of which was for us!), only to discover a moth sitting on top of a towel in there! Out came the contents of the airing cupboard, everything was checked over, the moth (and one other that I found) were duly dispatched, and everything replaced. It would appear that our moth problem will be ongoing for some time, despite all the preventative measures we have taken.

Later on this afternoon after I’d done the laundry I went back to my Mac and woke it up, only to have it freeze on me immediately afterwards so that I had to re-boot it. This happened yesterday, too, after I’d sorted out a different problem. I could do without this because I am reliant on my Mac for so many things. I really hope my firefighting skills won’t be required for much longer because I’m exhausted.