More on our domestic appliances

With the ongoing problems with vacuum cleaners we could well do without another of our appliances joining the unreliable club, but only a couple of weeks after the vacuum, followed by the computer, broke down, our cooker has now followed suit.

All seemed normal when the roasting tin was put into the oven for the fat to melt this morning, but when the potatoes which had been put into the fat to roast were taken out raw, and we discovered there was no heat in the oven even though it was switched on and the fan was working (it is a fan oven) it was not cooking anything.

So we are now spending tomorrow morning waiting for someone to come out and repair it.

TV's latest canine is not cute or cuddly!

Pablo in a scene from the advert


The usual TV canine is a cute and appealing creature - think "Lassie", "Benji" or "Littlest Hobo" and you see what I mean. Now, the latest TV canine is a puppet corpse which is here to show the horrors of cocaine.

Pablo the Drug Mule Dog appeared on UK screens at the end of last year, and already has made an impact on discussion forums and on Facebook, where he has his own rapidly-growing fan base.

Pablo is not cute, nor is he cuddly, but if he manages to turn people away from the horrors of drugs then he will be worth everything!

Watch the Pablo videos below (please note these videos are not suitable for young children).











To read more about the anti drug campaign click here.

Just for a change - Belgium by ferry

Sorry for the late arrival of this post, as my computer developed a boot problem and was away for eight days being fixed.

We went to Belgium for Christmas, as usual, but this time we were going by sea. We sailed from Hull overnight to Zeebrugge. It was good fun, but not as good as the plane!

The weather in Belgium was very cold, but we had some great food (including very nice chips and a Chinese Christmas dinner).

To see the pics from the trip click here.

I don't know when I'll see my beloved Belgium again.

More on domestic appliances, with reference to vacuum cleaners!

A post in April told of how we never have any luck with vacuum cleaners. Now that story is about to be updated.

The vacuum cleaner referred to in that post was discarded in late June, and replaced by a Black and Decker cylinder type. This one was bagless, which was an advantage in that you never had to scour the shops looking for bags which were the right shape and size, and also it was light to pull along and it had a powerful suck.

Yesterday, 1st January 2009, this once-reliable cleaner gave up the ghost, it just stopped working when I was almost at the end of the daily vacuum in the flat.

Thinking it might have been caused by overheating due to a full dust bowl and filter, I cleaned it out. Still no luck. The I replaced the fuse in the plug and tried again. Still nothing.

So today this cleaner is going back to the shop to be replaced by another one which, hopefully, will last longer than a few months!