Heart attack

Monday, October 03, 2011

Broken Washing Line and Unforgiving Female Driver Who Couldn't Park Properly (and other matters.)

The washing line broke. I was in the middle of pegging clothes out when the thing snapped. Everything pegged onto the line went down. I knew this was going to happen as the line was somewhat frayed and it was a matter of time before it would break. I have already put up one new line across the garden, so I just needed to get some fresh line to replace the old, broken line, and a couple of screw eyes or something to put in the wood of the fence to thread the line through. I decided to drive to Homebase and get some fresh washing line and, hopefully, a couple of screw-eyes, or something that would hold the line. I first went into Wickes, which is in the same industrial estate as Homebase, but I could see nothing suitable, so came out and drove the short distance to Homebase. I parked near the entrance and went inside to have a look round. I soon found some washing line (exactly the same as the old line, as I had a good idea where to look.) I spent some time deliberating over some hooks and/or screws but couldn't find anything suitable. I then heard a message over the Tannoy. It was to the effect, could the owner of the green Atoz please come to the front of the shop? I had to listen again to make sure it was for me. This has never happened to me before. I hurried to the front and went to a cash-desk. The cashier there had no idea what I was on about (which wasn't very encouraging.) She insisted on checking out the washing line I had in my hand. I went outside to the carpark, to find two women, who'd parked next to my car, making a great deal of fuss over the fact that their car was parked close to mine, so one of the couldn't get in the car. Rather pathetic, I thought. If it was me, I'd have climbed in through the passenger side door. The woman blamed me for parking too close. I think it should have been the other way round; she parked too close to me. I drove round so she could get out, with no apology and a certain amount of bad temper from the woman.  I have to admit it made me laugh, and was determined to come home and write about the incident on this blog. I re-parked the car and returned to the store. I had to ask an assistant whether they sold anything suitable to attach the washing line and was taken to another area of the store where there were screw-eyes, but not really suitable for the job I wanted. I got some other screw-eyes and said thanks to the member of staff and went back to the check-out. It turned out that the other cashier had wandered off, to goodness knows where, but left the washing-line on the counter with a receipt. I took this to the nearest available cashier and it turned out that the item had been voided by the other cashier. I paid and left the store. I then returned home and was able to put up the new washing-line across the garden, using the screw-eyes by putting them into a couple of points, each on the sheds we have in our garden, take out the old, rotten line and replace it with the new, and managed to end up with quite a lot of line left over and could attach the other end to a screw-eye which was already in the wall of the house near the patio doors. We have far more washing-line now than when I began this project and put a load of laundry on and when it was finished, pegged it out on the new washing line.

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