A Little Chaos

Waffle Says Hai

So it's all been a bit chaotic. Our Beko fridge freezer died again, second time in about a year. When you consider that I bought it when we moved into this apartment and that was late Summer 2012, can't say it was a great buy.

It seemed pointless having it mended again (pretty sure it was the same problem) so we bought a new one. The thing is, we don't have a kitchen space that allows for a washing machine so measurements are pretty important when it comes to a fridge freezer.

(When I look back at at the stuff I've accomplished in that kitchen it amazes me these days. I think there are toy versions with more workspace and oven reliability. Not a moan however, just a 'picture this' kind of comment.)


(Although, being honest, if I'm having a bad day the teeny tiny kitchen situation is what gets moaned about most. That and the toilet seat lid - what happened to that was - though not at the time - comical. We basically have half a lid and although we've had a replacement since it happened, we can't get the old one off to replace it with.

Okay..... so I've told you the sorry state of the thing, I may as well tell you how it happened (except I don't really know and I don't think TG does either). First off, where we live is a bit weird, things constantly break or stop working then start again. I'll leave it at that. Bit. Weird.

So the horrid industrial light in the bathroom hadn't been working but there are also LED lights so we didn't hurry to change the bulb (like I say, things stop then start working without any involvement from us). One day I felt like dyeing my hair and really needed the extra brightness so TG set about changing the bulb.

I wasn't in there so I don't know exactly what happened (I still can't even picture how what happened was possible) but basically the heavy, thick glass dome encased in metal ended up falling onto the toilet seat lid and cracking it in two. The glass also smashed.

For clarity, the light isn't above the toilet, it's on the wall facing it *I have no idea*.

The lid is one of those that closes by itself. Except that there's only half of it now and so it kind of lingers mid-air for the longest time because it doesn't have the weight it needs to close swiftly.

That happened well over a year ago. There is no getting the old lid off. It is secured inside of the ceramic toilet, not like in the bowl. Inside the back part that is attached to the wall. Aside of taking a large hammer to it... there's no way in.

It's a good thing that I still hold dear to the philosophy of the 'f*&% it life'. Much less stress. Don't sweat the small stuff.)

I've no idea how I came to tell you about that but I think my mind just needs a big clear out of random daily stuff that goes on, the kind of stuff I'd have a silly laugh with my Mum about were she here. I mean there's not many people nobody I could call and say "hey, this just happened to my toilet lid" and have a laugh with. Not without them thinking I was a) drunk or b) having a bit of a breakdown c) probably both.

So the blog gets it! I may have to re-do the tagline to 'The ramblings of a curious one. And talk of kittens.'

One of whom btw - Rolf - has been attempting to eat wrapping paper while I've been writing this. If the post doesn't flow I have an excuse. I don't have any pressies wrapped under a tree or anything like that. We don't have the tree up because you know. KITTENS. EVERYWHERE. Despite thinking about it for months I still have no tree/kitten logistics. Also, haven't bought any pressies yet.

We have this hideous heater thing on the wall and we kitten proofed underneath it by covering the pipes with folded up Amazon boxes. Worked a treat but looked awful so I covered it in wrapping paper. A few days ago out of nowhere Waffle was having one of his mad naughty turns and destroyed the pleasing aesthetic I'd created with his claws. Today Rolf decided to try and eat it.

As a whole we're about as far from #instaready as you can get! Which amuses me.

After proper food:

The little Dude sleeps.

So annnnnnyway. We got a new fridge in the end and just like last time choices were very limited due to the width and height of the space available. At the time I was panicking because we had a full fridge and freezer of food that was going to get ruined. Losing anything is bad but when you have drawers choc full of gluten free convenience foods, we're talking the potential loss of a considerable amount of money. 

It was all good as our local shop let us keep the stuff with them until the replacement arrived.

But while I was still panicking I had this exchange with an Argos customer service person:

ME: Hi, I'm looking to buy a fridge freezer for same day delivery. The one I wanted (read as have to have because of the space limitation) isn't available for my postcode. Can yo...........

THEM: What is the catalogue number?

ME: Oh, no, that one isn't in stock I need to find an alternative.

THEM: What is catalogue number?

I (at a very big stretch) figured that maybe they were going to take note of dimensions etc for comparrison.

ME *reads out number*

THEM: What is your postcode?

ME *Gives postcode*

THEM: It is not in stock in your area.

*Head in hands*

ME: Yes, yes I know *sigh* I thought maybe you could tell me which ones were.

THEM: Let me look...

ME: Thank you!

THEM: I have an American style fridge freezer in black is that okay?

ME: Ummm no. The American ones are WAY too big. It needs to be the same width as the one you looked up first.

THEM: Ah okay. What about this silver one catalogue number *reads out number*

*I check on the Argos website*

ME: Um. That's the same American fridge as the last one but in silver....

THEM: Okay, you don't want silver...

ME: No, I mean, I'm not fussed about the colour right now I just need to get a fridge that will fit delivered today.

THEM: Ah, okay, you don't mind the colour?

ME: *beginning to lose the ability to talk coherently* No, annny colour as long as I get it today.

THEM: Let me look.

ME: *flagging* Thanks....

THEM: This one looks good... oh... wait.... Not same day delivery....

This goes on for another 10 minutes.....

THEM: Oh, none of these are same day delivery. We don't do same day delivery on fridges.

Me: Thanks anyway *WILTS*

Unless I am very much mistaken the TV advertising campaigns do indeed make it seem that everything is same day delivery if you order it in time. Alas, got the new one from AO the next day instead. Same fridge as I was looking at buying from Argos.

I need to wrap this up soon because if you're still reading this and aren't my husband you must be as random as I am :)

So the chaos of having the fridge freezer break meant that TG had to ferry several black bin liners full of gluten free goodies to the shop and back, then the two delivery guys (who apparently did not know their asses from their elbows) got lost / comically fought to remove the packaging / said it wasn't going to fit. 

Thankfully it did fit, just.

During the delivery hoo-ha I was upstairs with the kittens who were in their carry case. And very, very not happy about being locked up. Waffle was thoroughly traumatised, so much so that he started circling the inner perimeter backward and if Rolf was in the way he just clambered over him. I was YouTubing 'relaxing cat sounds' 'relaxing cat videos' 'relaxing songs for cats'. It was horrible.

It didn't provide total calm but it did stop the crying:

It was to calm me more than anything at this stage but it definitely chilled the boys a bit too.  So after a bit of delivery people wrestling with it the fridge was housed in the ridiculously small designated space and the boys were free of their prison. I was Rescue Remedy'ed up. A couple of days later our broadband went down. Not so great in general but when you work from home it's a huge pain. Plus, y'know, the internet's fun. BT said that it could take FIVE days to mend. The next day at some unthinkable time (for me) an engineer arrives to fix it. If you saw the following tweets, now you know the context:

It's too early for all this. pic.twitter.com/yvZa26JYa8

— Theft and Shrubbery (@FreeFromG) November 18, 2017

There was no way I was putting the kittens through the carry case prison experience again. So that's why we were locked in the bathroom. With the jagged toilet seat lid. Which you can't even sit on or you risk a highly sensitive injury which would be incredibly hard to explain.

Kittens were happy though. And we got our internet back. So all good.

As for the drone I caught outside our window one night......

Chaos I tell you :)