Carpet cleaner

Last night, before we went to bed, we agreed that we needed a carpet washer-cleaner to try and remove some of the stale smoke smells as well as, generally, clean it up.  Earlier in the week I’d looked at a company that might do it for me but scheduling them seemed like a lot of effort. None of them had online booking capabilities.  I am not too worried about booking on line but it would make everything faster if I could look up availability online - and that tends to go hand -in-hand with an online booking tool.  So, I found out there was a Rug Doctor service at the Tesco superstore where you can rent a carpet cleaner. Last night I booked on for 9am today.

We got to the Tesco just after 9am. There are three carpet cleaners in a little cage and I’d been emailed a code for one of the lockers.  It was relatively simple to get it out. We did have to buy some cleaning solutions which added to the cost.  Then we tried to call a taxi.

The last time we were here, we booked a taxi and the car was here within minutes. This time, and maybe because it was raining, we tried a number of companies and none of them could supply a car within a couple of hours. We even went and waited in the coffee shop to pass some time before trying again with no luck. Eventually, I decided we’d just to carry the thing on the bus.  The carpet cleaner does not come in any kind of container - it’s simply a machine on wheels with a long long hose and a long power cable.  I  must have looked quite a sight wheeling it through the shelter to the bus stop and the manoeuvring it on to the bus (while PY was carrying bags of other things we’d bought for the flat under the assumption we’d be getting a taxi).

However, I think the other end of the journey was the funniest. When we got off the bus I had to wheel the machine along the pavements, in the rain, to the flat.  I can’t imagine what that looked  like. I was worried I’d break the machine but when we got it in worked with no issues.  I did all the rooms and felt very guilty for the people underneath as it made an awful noise but, I really wanted to do a pass of the whole flat before we invested in any more furniture.  I wish I’d snapped a picture of the colour of the water because it was black. I suspect I could have gone over them again but I didn’t want to cause any more disruption, we needed the carpers to dry and we had things to do.

I was done by 1pm and decided that it would be easiest to return the machine today. I could have waited until tomorrow but we didn’t see the point. We were back at Tesco, before 2pm, returning the carpet cleaner into its little cage. I’d wheeled it to the bus which, again, must have been quite a sight. It was easier than earlier as I knew what I was doing, where I was going and it wasn’t raining.  The cleaner was placed in its cage - which is what I tried to snap on the picture.  I wonder how many people only rent for a few hours?  What to do with the remaining cleaning liquid? I wonder if we’ll consider renting one again if the smoke smells linger in that flat?

After that we changed buses in Ryde to head out to Newport first to B&Q and then to Sainsbury’s.  B&Q was for the kitchen planning. We were both quite excited to see what could be done but it rapidly became clear that the design wasn’t going to do what we wanted. - which was disappointing.  As we progressed we realised it was going to be £5,000 and that turned out to be just for the kitchen The fitting was estimated to be similar and there would be close to a year’s wait. We’re thinking we’ll look for a plan B.

Afterwards, to Sainsbury’s as we wanted to spend our Nectar points on some its for the flat - mainly pans - in order to save us some money. We weren’t there very long and made our way back to Ryde. Amusingly, after the work and the purchase of pans, we are not convinced about the oven and so headed our to Ryde Thai for a delicious meal. I felt we’d earned it.