New Washing Machine

You never know how important something is until you lose it or in our case, it stops working. As you might have guessed from the title, we got ourselves a spanking new washing machine. The 2nd hand Zanussi we had been using for over two years now finally gave up. It was strange because all the lights were on, water was still going in and out and it was making the right noises but the cylinder inside was not spinning.

The clothes started piling up and we even had to wash a few loads at our friends' houses. Thanks Nana, Roby. Did some research on the net and we finally decided on the Hotpoint AQGMD129 Washer Dryer. We decided on this particular model because it has an A energy rating (the most efficient) and a capacity of 8Kg. Another important feature we were looking at was the child lock - absolutely essential because we have a son who loves electronic gadgets with buttons and flashing lights (like father like son, I guess).

We bought the Washer Dryer from TDA - Appliance Bargains. It cost us £397.89 including delivery charges and cost of disposing our old washer dryer. In Argos, the same machine costs £623.59 (with delivery).

They delivered it yesterday. Was a bit annoyed when the delivery guys just wanted to leave it outside. In the end, after some persuasion, they did bring it in to the kitchen. They were surprised when we told them that they were supposed to dispose of our old one as well. Had to call up their office who apparently had made a mistake. They are going to pick it the old washer tomorrow. What a waste of time and fuel.

Fitting everything took me over 2 hours. Mostly due to the fact that the machine was so damn heavy. Removal of the four transit bolts and rubber bush at the rear itself took half an hour. I have no idea why they have to make it so difficult for customers.

Had to put bricks underneath because of the skirting on the wall and somehow push the machine in to the narrow space.

Just take a look at the space I had to fit it in and you will understand why it took us so much time.


Soon had it up and running. The best part is that it is so quiet that I had to check to make sure that the thing was actually working.

We love our new Washer Dryer.

Blogroll problems

I have been using Blogrolling.com to manage my blogroll (on my right hand side bar). Quite recently, I realised that some of the links are dead. It was only then that I realised that we can only add but cannot delete the dead links from the blogroll - in fact, I can edit it at all.

According to their blog, their site was hacked late last year and they took the "system offline to ensure that no customer data was compromised". Right now they are in the process of developing a new blogrolling system. It's quite frustrating but I am sure it will be worth the wait.

Police officer injured in incident near our house

This Thursday afternoon I was at home alone and doing some research when there was a knock on the door.

I was shocked to see a police officer at the door. Behind him were a number of police cars with flashing lights and other police officers as well.

Apparently there had been an incident near our house and they had cordoned off the entire street. SO the officer asked me how many stayed in the house, their particulars, the number of cars we had and the registration numbers. I forgot our Volvo's number and had to look for the registration while I left him waiting at the the door. It was strange but I couldn't recall our neighbour's names either. We are not really close and only on a "Hello! You alright!" basis. I got to make an effort to know them better. We were prevented from leaving the area while they conducted their investigation.

I was a bit worried because I had to fetch my kids from school. There was also a tow truck parked right beside my car but when I went out they moved it away and I was able to fetch the kids.

Later on found out that a policeman on the rounds had been questioning some blokes in a black Peugeot 307 when it suddenly drove away injuring the police officer. Read more about the incident on the Coventry Telegraph website: Fleeing car injures police officer in Coventry

Some London Pics

My daughter With Ayah Muz in Wok in the Box




Paddington Station


At a cafe. They asked me not to take any more pictures. Wonder what was so great about the place.




Dinos at the museum






Strange, an almost empty London street


Not so empty London street


It's still busy in the evening

Back to cold Coventry

We are finally back in cold Coventry after a few days in London. Did some house hunting, some shopping and a lot of walking.


My sister-in-law had only about two weeks to find a house and we saw some houses. Today I learnt that she has put in an offer for the first house we saw. I guess the parking, easy access to the tube and proximity to the park did the trick.



The shopping was good but personally I prefer Coventry with our small cozy house with cheap rental) the huge garden. We can also park anywhere along the road totally free-of-charge.

Driving in London is a nightmare with traffic jams,the congestion charges and limited parking. Even though the tube are regular and most efficient way to get around the city, they are not exactly cheap and not really child friendly either.

Happy New Year 2009

Can't believe it but time passes so fast. It seems just like yesterday, we cheered the new year 2008 in.

Wishing all visitors to my blog a wonderful New Year.

A short post from my sister-in-law's appartment in London.

Buying 3 pay as you go SIM card

My sister-in-law who's just moved to London wanted to buy a pay as you go SIM card only, as she already has a phone. It was meant to be a temporary thing before she signed up for a monthly payment plan. Of course I suggested 3. So off we went to their store in Bayswater, London. However, I was quite surprised when I found out that they didn't have any pay as you go sim card in stock.

Further down the road there's a Phones 4 U shop and they eventually bought the 3 sim card from there.

This is yet another example of a 3 store disappointing me. My previous experience was buying a phone from their Coventry store. Yet another reason for interested customers to buy phones or SIM card from their online store.