It's been a bit of a dramatic week this week. First my landlord delivered my new washing machine last Saturday. Except when I did some washing when it spun it made loud noises and moved around - so much so that it came out from under the side and the pipe taking waste water away came out, so there was soapy horrible water all over the cupboard under the sink. I looked in the manual and on the internet about what it could be and found it must be something to do with it not being level.

So I bought a spirit level and found that it mostly wasn't level - but I can only really tell that when I drag it out into the middle of the kitchen floor because I don't have x-ray vision. So I played with the feet a bit and it seemed to help at first, but then it didn't. Today I looked at the manual more carefully and thought that maybe the bolts on the back of the washing machine are the transportation bolts that have to be removed - otherwise it behaves in the manner that it has been. Now, I'd assumed, because I wasn't watching all that closely, that when the men brought it up they'd removed everything that needed removing before they connected it up and put it in my kitchen. I only realised because I was wondering what the plastic things were in the bag - the instructions tell you nothing about where the bolts actually are - just show you a picture of the bolts.

But when I tried to take them off I found that my pliers just weren't going to do the job. Which was particularly annoying because I'd been out earlier that day and could have bought a spanner. But anyway, I went out again in my nice hot car and then spent ages in Focus trying to find a spanner - it wasn't helped by me forgetting to take my (prescription) sunglasses off or them being labelled wrenches - fortunately I learnt a few years ago that wrench is American for spanner. Which was just as well because the wrenches don't look much like I'd expect a spanner to look.

Anyway, it worked, with a lot of pulling, and when I spun the washing (with the washing machine in the middle of the kitchen floor) it was quiet and didn't move - except it made the whole floor in my flat shake. However, it didn't seem stable to me so I adjusted the feet and then the spirit level said it was less stable. When I put it back under the side it got unstable again, so I adjusted the feet back to where they were and the spirit level is happy. So I'll see what happens when I do some more washing tomorrow.

Because that clearly wasn't enough, Thursday morning I got into work to find that the little bit of a leak in the ceiling above my desk had turned in a big leak. When I got in people were clearing off my desk, so I'm now sat somewhere else for the time being. But I have bits of paper that are all crackly from being wet and a new keyboard on the way because apparently water poured out of it! My chair got wet too, so I'm working my way through the spare chairs in the office, which are all uncomfortable, which is why they're spare...

All this was coupled with there being hardly anyone in the office - I know it's August and therefore holiday season, even if the weather doesn't seem like it most of the time - but for some reason most of the office had this last week off. So it got a bit crazy at times.

On the plus side, I saw Harry Potter at the cinema ten minutes walk from my house. The seats haven't got any more comfortable, since you can't sit against the back of them and bend your legs, and can't bring a cushion because there's a gap at the back. But other than that I enjoyed the film.

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