Laundryman

I didn't get as long in Lavenham on Monday as I would have liked. I had to dash back to be in for the nice man from GCR Appliance Spares who was due to come and look at the washing machine. It had stopped working on Saturday - the motor just wasn't turning.

The prognosis was not good. The brushes on the motor had worn out, but after replacing them the motor still wouldn't work. It was also possible that the circuit board had been damaged too. At a minimum of £150 to repair and possibly more than £200... It was time to get a new one.

Now there are plenty of places to buy washing machines in Bury St Edmunds. We visited Currys and Powerhouse (next to Homebase, in Easlea Rd, off Bedingfield Way) on Monday evening to get and idea of what was available and then did some research on the web. Yesterday it was my job to go and find us a machine.

As well as Comet, I thought I'd look in on Peter Watts in Risbygate (GCR shares premises with them there) and they gave me a very good price on a Hotpoint Ultima machine - as they are just across the road from Comet, they have to be competitive with them.

I had a quick look around elsewhere, but couldn't find anything better for the price, so I went back and bought it*. I would rather support a local business than one of the chains anyway. And, unlike other places, not only was delivery free, but the charge for removal of the old machine was only £10. And, what is more, it was delivered by 3:45pm the same day! The missus is dead chuffed. It looks cool too, don't you think? Lovely job!

So today it is my job to catch up on the washing. Ho hum.

*For the curious, if there are any, we got an end of line model, the Hotpoint Ultima WT940P, which takes a 7kg load, has 1400 rpm spin, and does a "Super Silent Wash" plus loads of other features. It is made in Britain.