Snap decision

Having dithered about for months trying to decide whether to get a French-style washing machine [narrow, top-loader] or an English one [wider, front-loader, many more programmes, half the price], we were no nearer to making a decision, until this afternoon.

We'd gone to Burgundy to try and source some stone for the sill under the French window in the stable [I think we're OK: M. Pasdeloup has enough for a small terrace (can be installed later) that's "nicely weathered" (a.k.a. needs pressure washing!), as long as we can find a way of getting it here... 1.8 tonnes is more than a Berlingo can carry!], and needed a "pit stop".

I was waiting for David & got sucked into browsing the 3-day sale of white goods; sometimes I think having an oven would be great!

I was also admiring a decent-sized fridge [one where tenants haven't broken all the door shelves & half the other shelving, so we could stand cartons of juice upright!], and went to have a look around the other side only to get 'sucked in' to washing machines.

There were 2 cheap ones: a "French" one and an "English" one... David found out from the salesman that the top-loader only spins at 600rpm, whilst the front-loader has choices of 400, 600, 800, 1000 & 1200rpm and they both use the same amount of water/are A rated. The front-loader takes 6kg to the top-loader's 5kg, so it was a pretty easy choice!

The downside: top-loader slightly narrower, but greater functionality seems more important that a bit of extra space in the laundry room...

Which really IS a laundry room now!

Luckily, we'd got some filthy boiler suits [pressure washing 150+ years of crud off beams & walls creates a fair amount of muck!], and grotty work clothes [tying a (very gritty) tarpaulin to the wall plate left so much residue in my hair it took 2 washes to get it to lather, so you can imagine what previously dirtied clothes ended up like] so we felt fully justified in doing a "test run".

So far, so good!

No leaks [yet], and given the colour of the water coming off, it seems to be working.

And given the special offer, we paid not much more than a second-hand one from the charity shop in Wallington would be, and half the price/less of a new one on display in the Auchan normal display of washing machines.

Fingers crossed it lasts a while.