I must be jinxed. There's no other explanation.
In the last few months I've had to deal with numerous household items either failing to work completely or needing repairing.
To give you an idea:
The seals on the back windscreen of the car needed replacing. Everytime it rained I had a puddle in the boot of the car, and not just a drop of water, a real, jump-in-it-and-you'd-get-soaked affair. Water is still entering, somehow, thought the front and filtering down to form a deep puddle in the driver's footwell. Oh, and the passenger window, also at the front, will go down at the touch of the button but needs to be hauled up manually afterwards, though it sometimes refuses to budge. Now it's starting to warm up, I'm going to have to get it fixed. The driver's window is on it'sway out too. Ahh, and the other day, after shopping in Lidl (yes, happily, Lidl does exist in Spain as well), I went to start the car but the key refused to fit into the ignition. Strange, I thought, and checked my key ring just to make sure I hadn't picked up someone else's keys by mistake, but no, they were mine alright. After a bit of persuasion, swearing and coaxing I managed to get the key in, but then it wouldn't turn, and it wasn't just because the wheel had locked. Eventually, and feeling rather foolish, I had to call the insurance company for their roadside rescue. Then, just as the mechanic arrived, and despite 20-odd minutes of fiddling with it before I'd even resorted to calling, the key magically turned and the engine started. Apparently the anti-theft system needs looking at. Although I've since gotten used to the quirks of this and can manage to get the car started on most occasion with no hassle.
The other biggie is my computer. Specifically the graphics card, which I hope to replace shortly, though the rest of it can't be far behind. It currently takes me three or four goes to start up the pc - up from one or two attempts a few weeks ago - and then it freezes at the slightlest hint of any animation or video, and also sometimes without, and requires rebooting again. *Sigh*
On top of that, the washing machine and fridge are on their last legs, as well as the toaster, though I'm hoping they'll last out a little longer. *Crosses fingers* Oh, and I sat on my glasses a few months ago (don't ask) so could really do with some new ones, they're about 10 years old now anyway and I know my prescription's changed.
What else? Well, the bread machine conked out a few months ago, but Lidl had some in (which is where the car not starting incident occurred - I returned, triumphant to the car park with my new purchase, before realising I couldn't take it home) for a bargain €45 so that issue was solved. I had a few problems with the hairdryer, but managed to rewire the plug and that's helped some, though it's still complains at every use. The iron stopped working completely but that was fairly easily replaced.
This last week, the strimmer decided to play up - I hadn't used it for months and when I finally decided to get it out on Monday and pulled the starter cable, the damn thing gave a wimpish sputter before dying on me and leaving the cable extended. Ugh. Then there was a gas leak: my gas bottles were running out after only two weeks, which was weird, since they normally last at least three weeks. After an embarasisng incident when I had friends round for lunch and my last bottle unexpectedly ran out on me half way through cooking the food, I decided I had a real problem. This week the nice man from the gas company managed to find the leak for me and will sort it out completely some time next week. It's good to know the house won't be exploding any time on the near future. And finally, also this week, the toilet cistern decided not to seal once it had been flushed and emptied out my water tank. It took me a while, and some copious swearing, to figure out what was happening. I went to get a new part on Friday, but was given the wrong one so I'm still currently making do with the mop bucket to flush the loo.
Hmm, I think that's it. I'm not sure I have anything else that can go wrong on me now, but I'll be sure to let you if it does.
In the last few months I've had to deal with numerous household items either failing to work completely or needing repairing.
To give you an idea:
The seals on the back windscreen of the car needed replacing. Everytime it rained I had a puddle in the boot of the car, and not just a drop of water, a real, jump-in-it-and-you'd-get-soaked affair. Water is still entering, somehow, thought the front and filtering down to form a deep puddle in the driver's footwell. Oh, and the passenger window, also at the front, will go down at the touch of the button but needs to be hauled up manually afterwards, though it sometimes refuses to budge. Now it's starting to warm up, I'm going to have to get it fixed. The driver's window is on it'sway out too. Ahh, and the other day, after shopping in Lidl (yes, happily, Lidl does exist in Spain as well), I went to start the car but the key refused to fit into the ignition. Strange, I thought, and checked my key ring just to make sure I hadn't picked up someone else's keys by mistake, but no, they were mine alright. After a bit of persuasion, swearing and coaxing I managed to get the key in, but then it wouldn't turn, and it wasn't just because the wheel had locked. Eventually, and feeling rather foolish, I had to call the insurance company for their roadside rescue. Then, just as the mechanic arrived, and despite 20-odd minutes of fiddling with it before I'd even resorted to calling, the key magically turned and the engine started. Apparently the anti-theft system needs looking at. Although I've since gotten used to the quirks of this and can manage to get the car started on most occasion with no hassle.
The other biggie is my computer. Specifically the graphics card, which I hope to replace shortly, though the rest of it can't be far behind. It currently takes me three or four goes to start up the pc - up from one or two attempts a few weeks ago - and then it freezes at the slightlest hint of any animation or video, and also sometimes without, and requires rebooting again. *Sigh*
On top of that, the washing machine and fridge are on their last legs, as well as the toaster, though I'm hoping they'll last out a little longer. *Crosses fingers* Oh, and I sat on my glasses a few months ago (don't ask) so could really do with some new ones, they're about 10 years old now anyway and I know my prescription's changed.
What else? Well, the bread machine conked out a few months ago, but Lidl had some in (which is where the car not starting incident occurred - I returned, triumphant to the car park with my new purchase, before realising I couldn't take it home) for a bargain €45 so that issue was solved. I had a few problems with the hairdryer, but managed to rewire the plug and that's helped some, though it's still complains at every use. The iron stopped working completely but that was fairly easily replaced.
This last week, the strimmer decided to play up - I hadn't used it for months and when I finally decided to get it out on Monday and pulled the starter cable, the damn thing gave a wimpish sputter before dying on me and leaving the cable extended. Ugh. Then there was a gas leak: my gas bottles were running out after only two weeks, which was weird, since they normally last at least three weeks. After an embarasisng incident when I had friends round for lunch and my last bottle unexpectedly ran out on me half way through cooking the food, I decided I had a real problem. This week the nice man from the gas company managed to find the leak for me and will sort it out completely some time next week. It's good to know the house won't be exploding any time on the near future. And finally, also this week, the toilet cistern decided not to seal once it had been flushed and emptied out my water tank. It took me a while, and some copious swearing, to figure out what was happening. I went to get a new part on Friday, but was given the wrong one so I'm still currently making do with the mop bucket to flush the loo.
Hmm, I think that's it. I'm not sure I have anything else that can go wrong on me now, but I'll be sure to let you if it does.
