Two Minor Catastrophes

Today was to be spent reading, and in those quiet hours, Christine and I decided to get some laundry done. Now, to understand how this is done, there is something you must know about England: it has everything America has, only ridiculously inconvenient. So we have a front-loading washer in the kitchen, but it holds about a gallon of water when full. Christine happened to notice this morning that the sink was clogged. Well, it must have been somewhere way down in the pipes, because when the washer drained, the sink filled withed soapy water. I mean FILLED, with a cloudy purple meniscus in which floated tiny pieces of potato and onion.

Finally the sink drained. By then the washer had stopped, so Christine opened it to pull out the clothes, at which point we learned that our washer actually holds more water than just a gallon, because at least that much poured onto the floor before Christine got it shut again. Since the washer was now half empty, I could see the water line on the door. So, while I mopped up the floor, I set the washer to drain again. And again, the sink filled with water. And, as I watched the water in the sink go down, I could see the water in the washer going up. So I put it back on drain, and the sink filled again. As the sink drained, the washer filled. The water was simply moving back and forth between the sink and the washer.

Somehow the moving back and forth must have broken up the clog, because the final time the sink drained, the washer did not fill. So I put the washer on spin, then opened it with great trepidation, expecting clothes, water, onions, and potatoes to spill out. Fortunately, the clothes were actually dry and clean and smelled only of soap. They are now drying in front of our space heater (dryers are too convenient, therefore not British).

Tonight I was going to make bangers and mash for dinner, but we only had one potato and the sausages had gone bad. Reeeeeeeeeeeeeally bad. Whew! So I salvaged dinner by making mashed potato and gravy sandwiches with an awesome gravy. It was kind of like hot turkey sandwiches, but without the turkey. It was good.

I spent the rest of the evening downloading books from the Online Books Page. This week I'm reading Arthur Machen's horror stories and Sophocles's Women of Trachis and Philoctetes.

So, how are you?