Hotter Than Ever!

 Friday 10th July. 3.35 a.m. It's so hot, I just can't sleep. Even now, the digital thermometer reads 31ºc.If it's that hot now, with my little air conditioner on and the window open, which  itis has been all night, what temperature is it likely to be as the day progresses?

I went to the Milton Keynes Theatre yesterday afternoon, to see "The Carman," the ballet by New Adventures. This company is directed by Sir Matthew Bourne's company. This production is set in 1960s America and uses a specially arranged score based on Bizet's "Carmen" and is quite violent in places (there are a couple of murders in it.) I didn't drive, thinking it would not only be good exercise, and I wore my new earbuds for something to listen to as I walked, but it seemed a bit unnecessary to go in the car and have to pay for the privilege of parking. It was extremely hot, but I didn't experience any ill-effects, apart from my mouth becoming extremely dry, as a result of the extreme heat. Fortunately, the theatre was cool, no doubt due to having air conditioning, which you would expect in a modern theatre in the early years of the 21st century.

Saturday 11th July. 4.00 p.m. This morning we had our monthly men's breakfast at The Oaktree Centre. We had our usual cooked breakfast (well, it could hardly be called a men's breakfast if it didn't have that element. I had written a piece, because the whole idea is to have some element of Bible teaching or a talk with a Christian element to it. It was called "The Power of Parables and The Creative Gift of Words.' I thought it quite appropriate to do something related to story-telling, which obviously Parables are and my interest in writing and using words in my writing. I think it went well, and then there was a question-and-answer session afterwards. So, that's another thing ticked off my list!

I have written another two plays, so my current total of plays to date is around 6. Not bad, considering I have never written a play before last September, so it will be one year since I began playwrighting next month. So, I think I can now safely put the term 'playwright' on my CV!

Sunday 12th July. 2.20 a.m. Here I am, sitting here at this ungodly hour, couldn't sleep, the same old business of having to get up from bed to use the loo and doing a bit of work on one of my plays on my Macbook. Then, for no apparent reason, the fire alarm goes off. Why? Who has left their oven off, let the bread burn in the toaster? So, I suppose I will have to wait until the fire service arrives, to turn the wretched thing off. The door from the lounge into the central hallway is currently closed, which reduces the sound of the alarm to some extent, but it's still annoying. 

8.40 p.m. You will not believe this (although you might just believe it.) but the horrible fire alarm is going off as I write this. It is becoming something of a joke. Just the fact that someone has no ability to set the awful thing off, by forgetting that they have something cooking in their oven, or let their toast burn, or even let something burn on the top of the oven, the hob. Please, oh please, don'ts let this go on for another two hours, which is what happened at 2.20 this morning.

A Foggy Day in Milton Keynes

 Sunday. 2.10 p.m. It was foggy across Milton Keynes this morning as I attempted to drive to church. I say attempted, because there was an accident on Chaffron Way, at the junction with Strudwick Drive. I knew that something was up because there were people in hivis jackets on the roundabout near Venture Church, formerly known as M.K.C.C. (Milton Keynes Christian Centre). You may ask, why on earth change the name? It's because Milton Keynes City Council also has the same initials, since MK was made a city. Crazy name, but there it is. Then I had to wait at the junction, and I could see police in the road and further out, the mangled remains of a car at the side of the road. I could not turn right, as I wanted to, to get to church, so I had to make a left turn and eventually go around the roads near MK college and out onto Grafton Street, along Standing Way and back onto Grafton Street and onto Chaffron Way and on to church. A long and laborious route.

Monday. 8.40 a.m. Another gloomy and foggy morning. Not much you can do about it. I expect it will clear at some point during the day.

Tuesday. 2.55 p.m. It's relatively sunny today, but a strong wind is blowing.

Wednesday. 5.30 a.m. I have been rudely woken by the horrible sound of the fire alarm. It is so loud that it hurts my ears, and I went to the loo and then here, in the lounge. I have heard a vehicle turn up outside in the road, and hopefully it's the fire service. With some luck (although 'luck' doesn't come into it.) the firemen will turn the wretched thing off. Really not a good way to start the day. Horray! The horrid thing has been turned off!

Friday. 8.00 p.m. I have been continuing with the writing project. I have it more or less planned, but just needed to get down to the actual writing process.

I am hoping that, if the weather improves, I can go out with my new digital camera and do some filming. Currently, the weather has been unsettled, with a mixture of rain and blustery wind.

I am currently watching a drama series on Apple+TV, called 'Hijack.' The title alone should tell you what it's about. Starring Idris Elba. It's extremely tense and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It tells the story of an aeroplane being hijacked by a group of supposed terrorists and is in ''real time.'

All Things, Bright and Beautiful

 Monday. 7.45 a.m. I was awake early and it was getting light, so I took out Alfie, who was more or less asleep when I went to get him. We did a circuit of Oldbrook Green and found it was relatively mild. I'm not entirely sure whether it had rained in the night. There was a red sky in the east (presume it's the east. Yes, it must be. Where the sun rises.) They always say 'red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning, so perhaps we're in for bad weather. Do shepherds know things about the weather that most people don't know? Why shepherds, in particular? How about fishermen? Farmers? Anyway, those who spend much of their time outside, in all conditions and weathers?

1.10 p.m. As I write this, the fire alarms within Dexter House are going off. It's been like this for around 45 minutes. It's got to the stage where the noise, which is so loud, actually hurts my ears. It's giving me a splitting headache. The whole alarm system is faulty and if there was a genuine fire situation, I don't think anyone would take any notice. I just hope it stops soon. I have been in the bedroom with the door closed, which cuts the noise to some extent, but not completely. Alfie can't stand it and I imagine it is unpleasant for dogs, who hear at a higher frequency than humans. He is currently on the sofa and his ears are pointing backwards, which suggests he is finding it uncomfortable.

Tuesday. 6.25 a.m. I went to the first over-60's afternoon meet-up at The Oaktree Centre yesterday afternoon, called, very appropriately, The Monday Club. There had been something similar before the pandemic, but it had to be postponed, for obvious reasons.  Plenty of tea and cakes for everyone! The lady who made most of them did a great job. A chance to have a chat with people and quite a few new faces. Such a good idea and a chance to get out of my flat, which can become very isolating.

When I returned home after the Monday Club, fortunately, the fire alarm had finished making its unpleasant din. Just as well, as it really hurts my ears and gives me a headache.

I've been out with Alfie, although he was fast asleep on my bed at the point I was ready to take him out.

As we approached the intersection on the path with the Redway which crosses Strudwick Drive earlier, an individual came shooting past on an electric scooter. If I had been a couple of steps further forward, he would have crashed into me. No effort to slow down and check if anyone is approaching. He just shot off over the road and went to the bus stop next to The Cricketers public house.

4.35 p.m. I have just got home from Camphill, working in the performance arts workshop in the Chrysalis Theatre. On my way out of Oldbrook along Strudwick Drive and onto Chaffron Way, I came up behind a couple of cars, waiting to turn. One car was ahead of me, as another car had moved onto Chaffron Way. The driver was attempting to turn right, which was going to be fairly time con suming, because the traffic was fairly heavy. She (the driver) was blocking my view and she began to inch forward. It was a very narrow escape she has, because if she'd moved onto the carriageway, she would have had a rather unpleasant accident. The junctions seem to be responsible for many such accidents. It would be far easier for the driver to turn left, go to the next roundabout and then double back onto Chaffron Way. Easier and a good deal safer.

Troublesome Technology

Tuesday. 7.45 a.m. A bit wet when I  went out earlier with Alfie. Not exactly pouring rain, but a bit what I'd call drizzly. Thin rain might be a better description.

I forgot to mention that the fire alarm when off in Dexter House yesterday morning. The system has been tested by a technician, who presumably knew what he was doing, but it went on for around an hour. At first, I wasn't sure if it was the weekly test, which usually lasts around a minute. Then, when it continued on, whether it was more serious. It was no good because it gives me a headache and Alfie can't cope with it either, I imagine it hurts his ears as dogs can hear sounds at a different, lower, frequency to humans. So I put on my trousers (well, not such a good idea to go without, don't you think?) and gathered Alfie up, and we proceeded to leave the flat and go out into the street. I could still hear the alarm and thought it best to walk around the block, giving Alfie a surprise outing in the process.

Wednesday. 10.20 a.m. The other morning, there was a sound rather like a baby crying. It was around 3 o'clock in the morning. It was very close, whatever it was, more likely a cat, sitting on the ledge outside my bedroom window. As the window as open, that might have accounted for the rather loud volume. I was expecting Alfie to react, but he seemed to remain asleep beside me on the bed.

Thursday. 7.55 p.m. I have never mentioned the online surveys I do, for which I receive both cash and vouchers which can be redeemed for high street goods and services. Not only am I doing the online surveys, but I have more recently done some focus groups. Most are done via Zoom, the computer video platform, basically, because it's easier than having to set up face-to-face groups and even more so with the current pandemic restrictions. I won't mention who or what is said in any of the surveys, as I'm not supposed to. Privacy and confidentiality and all that. I did one a couple of Mondays ago, and the latest one was yesterday evening. You have to make sure you're all set up well in advance of the set time, which I did. On this occasion, I used my iPad and had it set up on the gooseneck support which I got from Amazon. The idea with this is that it brings the iPad up closer to my face and is easier to use than having the MacBook at table height. I also had my iPhone set up on another gooseneck support, for emergencies. I should describe a gooseneck as being a device that is made of strong spring-like material that keeps its position once adjusted. It holds your tablet or phone in a firm, spring-loaded grip, and you can move it around to get the best position. The focus group began, but after around thirty minutes, the iPad began to die on me. I had thought it was fully charged, but it just died completely. I then decided to use the iPhone, and then I couldn't get the sound to stop on the iPad (don't ask me why or how. It really illudes me completely.) It began to cause sound problems, which I couldn't fix until I put the iPad in the kitchen. Then I had to continue on the iPhone, but eventually decided to use my MacBook to finish the session It was all very annoying and embarrassing, but I was determined to continue because I knew that otherwise I wouldn't be paid the incentive for the focus group. Then I couldn't get the sound to work and had to continue with the discussion using the 'chat' facility on Zoom, which actually worked quite well. I could write relatively fast in answer to some questions and make comments, easier than waiting for people to finish speaking. Considering I had all my devices fully charged and it was just as well I had an alternative to the iPhone and iPad. Just typical that they should fail me when I really needed them to work properly.

Normal Life? Don't Bank on It!

Thursday. 6.45 a.m.  So, what are the chances that we might return to some sort of normal life with lockdown restrictions being lifted, or at least, some of them? Let me think. Probably not going to be quite as 'normal' as one might expect, because there's still going to be the threat of further outbreaks of coronavirus infections. So, tomorrow (Monday) the first of the lifting of restrictions are going to begin.

My lovely daughter, Chloe, has just given birth to the fourth grandchild, a girl, Rosie Alice. Born 10th May, weight 7lb 15oz. Just hope I can go and visit them soon in Worcester. The three other boys, George, Eddie, and Arthur will no doubt make a real fuss of her! I can't wait to go and visit them. It's been so long since I went to see them. In fact, it was Christmas 2019 when I was last with them.

Friday. 7.00 a.m. It's overcast and mild. It was wet yesterday, so let's hope it remains relatively dry today.

During his Downing Street press conference the other evening, Boris Johnson was talking about how we will be able to cuddle once some of the lockdown restrictions are lifted. It was all mentioned with a very serious look on his face. The same could be said of the reporters who have been covering all of this on BBC News,  BBC Breakfast, and so on. How on earth they managed to avoid bursting into laughing I can't imagine. To be honest, it really would do no harm to let go and at least smile when discussing it. It is coming over rather like a sketch on Monty Python's Flying Circus or The Goon Show. Things have been pretty grim for the last year and more, so a guffaw or titter wouldn't hurt. 'Oh er, madam! Titter not!' as Frankie Howerd would have said. 'Cuddle not! Ooh er, Missus!' 

The other thing which might put the cat among the pigeons might be what they call the 'Indian Variant' of the coronavirus which has been identified within the United Kingdom. But we must get out of this current situation and we can't go on running away from this virus. We all know that viruses mutate and this one is no exception. 

Saturday. 8.10 a.m. Quietly sitting and working on the laptop. I've been out with Alfie, as normal. It's raining, but not heavy. A light shower, almost like a mist. ('mist-like would be better.) Then my ears are assaulted by the fire alarm going off. Just so loud it hurts my ears. It can't be a test, because that is done during the week when our S.H.O. is here, and it lasts about 30 seconds. Alfie barks and doesn't stop barking. Nothing for it, but to go outside. I abandon what I'm doing on the laptop, scoop up Alfie in my arms (which stops him barking. I suppose it's difficult to do so if he's being held.), and walk down to the front door and stand under the awning to keep out of the rain. Alfie is heavy to hold for any length of time, so I put him on the ground. He shakes like a leaf. I suppose, because dogs can hear higher pitch sounds than humans, it must hurt his ears, hence his barking. After around five minutes we can hear a fire engine approaching, and it roars up with lights flashing and one of the firemen gets out and I have to let him into Dexter House with my keys because the automatic door doesn't open without. (This needs repairing urgently and causes some annoyance and inconvenience.) It turns out someone left something cooking in their oven and it was that that set the fire alarms off. After around 15 minutes the noise went off and we could return to my flat. Panic over!

A Glimmer of Light

Yesterday (Sunday 7th March) would have been Carol's 57th birthday. Just doesn't seem possible that she's been gone for over two years. I posted some photographs of her on Facebook. Have plenty and it was difficult selection  to choose those that were the best. 

So, what does the new week bring?

Well, to be honest, probably much the same as last week and the week before and back to around the beginning of all these confounded lockdowns. But there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

(Monday) I've written a considerable amount more and by now I ought to transcribe it into word processing. More editing, but that's to be expected.

The workmen are busily doing whatever it is they're doing around Dexter House. As I write this, at 1.35p.m., there is a very loud sound immediately outside my front door, of what I suspect is an electric drill, a hole being made for whatever purpose I have really no idea. I just wish someone would warn me well in advance, as it is extremely loud and might mean I can't get out until it's finished. Alfie really doesn't like it and he's staring at the door. Any sudden sharp noises he starts barking, so you can imagine what he's like at the moment. I just hope it stops soon.

Later. I've been out with Alfie. I waited until the drilling stopped and then stuck my head out of the door and all the noise was to install new emergency lighting. I think they will be a good deal more effective than the old ones. I just hope that is all the noise for today. I should have spoken (or written) so soon, as there is more drilling going on elsewhere. Oh well! Just have to ignore it.

(Tuesday) The new emergency lights are far more effective than the old ones. It's like daylight and because those outside my front door are on all night (and day, it would seem.) the light comes through my front door and it's almost like having daylight streaming in. Almost pure white light contrasted with the rather yellowy light of the old lights and similar to the light from the reading lamp I bought on Amazon. I think they must be LCD (light emitting diode) lights but not entirely sure.

(Wednesday) I've been out with Alfie as usual and it was cold and wet! Quite a strong wind blowing.

I've just realised that the new ceiling lights along the corridor as I go out are operated by motion sensors! I wasn't sure, but I'm certain. I couldn't understand what the strange clicking was as I walked along the corridor, and now realise that was what it was and the whole array of ceiling lights come on as I passed under them. I suppose it's a good way to save electricity so they don't have to be on all the time and especially when there's nobody around.

I had to wait in this morning because there was an electrician coming from Mears, the company which does the maintenance around Dexter House. Apparently someone was supposed to come a few weeks ago, but unfortunately I forgot, so the appointment was rearranged for today. I wasn't sure what time they would arrive, and someone rang me yesterday to ask me if I'd had covid or had interacted with someone infected by the virus, but I said I hadn't. The window I was given when he would arrive was from 8-12pm, so I couldn't go out. Fortunately he arrived at around 10.30 and what he was going was putting in new fire and carbon monoxide alarms. They can be tested from a remote gadget and as it is I can reach them as I'm tall enough to touch them to test them. One in the entrance, another in the kitchen and another in the sitting room. Poor Alfie had to be shut in the bedroom as it was safer for all concerned and it meant he could sleep on the bed and it would explain why I din't hear a single peep out of him the whole time. So, at least that's done and dusted.

Today he weather has changed considerably. From being really mild and spring-like, today it is a good deal colder, wet and windy. I took Alfie out when I'd been to Sainsbury's (a good deal later than I would normally, due to the fact the electrician came to sort out the fire alarms. Incidentally, why wasn't one put in the bedroom? Or the bathroom if it comes to that?) Once I'd come home and put the shopping away (four bags, and considerably more than I usually buy, but I have several week's worth of food, so I shouldn't have to go shopping for quite a while.) I had a short rest and then took Alfie out, but he didn't want to go far because it was raining, although not particularly heavily.

Horrible Sainsbury's Fire Alarm Test

(Saturday)I had hoped that I could have a bit of a lie-in this morning. Instead of getting up before 6 o'clock and having breakfast as I usually do, I hoped I could get up around 7 o'clock, but Alfie being Alfie, this wasn't going to happen. He had slept on the sofa in the lounge and came upstairs to find out where I was and what I was doing. No peace for the wicked, as the saying goes, but I don't think I'm wicked. I don't know what Alfie thought, but no doubt he was thinking I was a lazy old so-and-so, that he wanted his early-morning jaunt across the park and I wasn't going to be allowed a minute more in bed!  So, I got dressed slowly, with the close eye of one small, active Yorkshire Terrier observing my every move. I had to go downstairs and make sure Alfie is in the lounge so I can complete my routine of putting on my outdoor shoes, jacket and so on, and have the doggy bags in one trouser pocket, another with my iPhone in the other and then, when all is present and correct, I collect the lead from it's hook in the kitchen and then prepare to connect the lead to Alfie's harness and get out of the front door. But, no sooner have I opened the door from them hallway into the lounge than Alfie begins his barking and it's quite an effort to get him calmed down so I can connect the lead to the harness and then open the front door and go out into the road.

Having taken Alfie out and done a circuit of Eaglestone Park, we came home and I had a mug of tea and bowl of Weetabix for breakfast whilst watching BBC Breakfast on television. They're still bleating on about Brexit and the results of the local elections, so the television didn't remain on for long. I really don't want to listen to a load of politicians, of whatever colour, tying to justify themselves.

I needed to go to Lloyd's phrmacy in Sainsbury's because they had a repeat prescription which needed collecting. I thought that I might have a coffee in the café in Sainsbury's before I started the shop. I don't think it was entirely successful. Nothing particularly brilliant about it, but as I stood waiting at the till for my latte to be prepared, there was a rather loud voice coming over the Tannoy system, saying, 'this is a fire alarm test.' It kept going off at intervals, and nothing happened for a while. But it was getting really annoying. Also, quite loud. Then there were two blasts of the fire alarm, so loud that it began to hurt my ears. At one point I wasn't entirely sure whether it was an actual fire alarm and whether we were supposed to leave the building, but nobody seemed to take a bit of notice and remained doing what they were doing. I ate my cheese and ham toastie and drank my latte. The horrible voice came back. I have a feeling that someone had not the slightest idea how to turn off the fire alarm. But what would have happened if there're been a real fire and an emergency? I know from experience that you have to test your fire alarms on a regular basis, but why have it on what must be one of the busiest days, a Saturday?

I finished eating and drinking and left the café and made my way into the supermarket and the computerised voice continued to bleat on, but eventually it came to an end and everyone gave a sigh of relief, not least myself. If nothing else came of all this, at least I got to write about what happened in this blog post.

On the drive back home I went along Saxon Street and at the road leading into Milton Keynes Academy there was what appeared to be a van in the road, looking slightly smashed in on the front headlamp, with bits of glass and metal in the road. I couldn't make out exactly what had happened, whether the van was pulling out into Saxon Street and had been hit by another vehicle, hence the smashed van's front, but whatever had happened there were police on site and other people in attendance. I couldn't see an ambulance, and all this was holding up the traffic from the opposite direction from that I was driving. People do take risks, and pulling out of that particular road and attempting to make a right-hand turn would be difficult and dangerous. If it had been me, I would hav made a left-hand turn and gone round the roundabout and doubled back on myself, so as to avoid the situation those vehicles found themselve in. Coming out of Eaglestone, it's easier to drive around Golden Drive towards the exit near the shop rather than taking the more obvious exit onto Saxon Street, because if you were intending making a right turn into that road, it would be difficult and dangerous because of the volume of traffic, particularly at around 8-9 in the morning when people are going to work.

When Kitchen Gadgets Go Bad

Our toaster is playing up. It's been awkward for some time. You put a piece of bread in it and it takes ages to actually brown the bread sufficiently. You turn up the thing up so it makes a darker colour of the bread, but then it burns. You await the popping of the toast, and it takes what seems an eternity. Sometimes the slices of bread you put in get stuck, which also leads to more incineration. You have to make sure the kitchen door is closed into the hallway, where the smoke detector is (is it a smoke detector? I'm not sure.) If you forget to close the door and you accidentally allow the toaster to burn the bread within it, the alarm goes off with an ear-piercing shriek. I know it's not much use if it's not loud, for example, in the middle of the night, when you are deep in the land of nod, it has to be loud to waken you. But during the day? Alfie will bark. Is it to tell you to sort the gadget out, to stop it shrieking? To stop it, you wave a teatowel or a newspaper under it, to cause a draught which will stop the thing making a noise. Or press the button in the centre of the thing, which is impossible to reach unless you stand on a stool or a chair to reach it. More inconvenience. The toaster will only really work properly if you use slices from a nicely pre-sliced loaf, such as Sunblest. Or Hovis. I prefer the multi-seeded variety. Sliced white is just too processed and mush. If you buy a proper loaf, from a bakers, and then slice it yourself, you have to ensure that the slices are not to thick otherwise they stick in the toaster, leading to more smoke and chaos from the smoke detector thingy in the hall.

We had a microwave oven, which sat on the kitchen work-surface, but it took up a lot of space. It didn't wear very well. It wasn't that old, but it got very rusty inside. I took it to the tidy-tip to be (hopefully) recycled. We didn't use it so much, and to be honest, we don't miss it. The space is more important. If you have a microwave you have to keep it clean. When you get spills it's important to deal with them otherwise it just adds to the decaying process. Also, if you use them to cook meals which have a strong smell, such as curry, this smell tends to linger. You just can't get rid of it. Not pleasant. I think the problem with this particular model was, because it was quite cheap, it wasn't made of very durable materials, hence the fact it rusted quickly, leading to it's demise.

We live in a rented property. There were various electrical items in situ when we moved in, a washing machine, a fridge/freezer and an electric cooker. When it came to replacing the cooker the landlord was reluctant to replace it, but it eventually buy a new one. Unfortunately it didn't last long. The new one wasn't much better. I came down to make tea early one morning and was almost electrocuted by the thing. There were sparks coming out of the electric point where it was wired in. We bought the next one ourselves, when the landlord refused. It didn't wear very well. It rusted badly and the oven gave up so we couldn't cook anything in it. So we bought the latest one through our Very account. It is reasonably good, has a ceramic hob, which the old one had. They are a good deal easier to keep clean than a conventional one as it's a totally flat surface to keep wiped. It does it's job well enough.

The fridge/freezer gave up when it just didn't freeze anymore. We'd been out for the day and came home to find it had defrosted and we lost a lot of food which was in the freezer compartment. We replaced this with one from Very. It has more freezer capacity, an extra drawer than the previous model.

Then we had to replace the washing machine. The old model was a cheap Bush, from Argos. I think I've described in a lot of detail how the landlord got someone he knew, who had absolutely no knowledge about installing washing machines, to fit it in for us. They didn't remove the restraining bolts which held the drum in transit, so when I put it on, when the machine got to 'spin' the machine nearly took off across the kitchen floor. Well, it would, wouldn't it? The drum would have been fixed with those bolts, so no wonder it caused so much damage, not just to the floor, but pulled the pipes out of the wall where it was plumbed in. This caused a lot of water damage, which we had to get repaired. We bought the current washing machine, a Kenwood, which we got from Curry's. A much better machine, which has an economy setting which means you can have a load of laundry done in around 45 minutes. The old machine seemed to take forever to wash a load.

We had an electric kettle which we'd bought in Argos. It went wrong. The lid was opened by pressing a sort of lever, but it stopped functioning, so it made the kettle virtually impossible to use properly. So it became somewhat impossible to use. We took it back and got a replacement, a Russell Hobbs model which has a Brita water filter inside it. You top the kettle up as you would normally, but, because it has a filter in it, the water is purified as it would be in a standard Brita water filter. The kettle has a device on the top which shows how long the filter has been in the kettle (four weeks.). It has a series of four 'bars' which represent the weeks, and when you insert a new filter, you press this device and as the weeks go by, each of the four 'bars' disappears until the last one disappears and you then replace the filer with a new one. The kettle is fine, except it's wearing badly, particularly around the lid. The body of the kettle is made of a plastic substance and it has a blue light within the kettle which shows when the kettle is boiling. This is very useful but really serves no real purpose. It doesn't make the kettle any more efficient. Also, the Maxtra filters are quite expensive and if you forget to replace them, then the filter capability is of no use. I suppose if it does have a purpose it is that it prevents the kettle from furring up with limescale because the water in this area is quite hard and without some sort of treatment things like kettles are soon full of limescale.

We have a coffee machine. One that takes pods. It's a Dolce Gusto. It has worked very well and you can make a range of drinks, mostly coffee. You put a milk pod in first, let the hot water filter through, then a coffee pod, to make latte or cappuccino. The only problem is, the water container is very difficult to clean. It has developed some green algae in it and there's no way you can get a brush in it to clean this gunk off. The plastic tank is just an awkward shape and there seems no way you can clean this out. A poor design fault. A lot of kitchen gadgets seem extremely difficult to clean. I had a food processor. It did it's job well enough, but it was a real fiddle to clean properly. Also, you have the problem with storage. With more and more kitchen appliances, mixers, blenders, processors, coffee makers, where do you store them when they're not in use? Most can obviously be left on the work-surface of your kitchen, but the rest? We have limited space.

My conclusion of all this discussion is that, generally, household appliances are not made to be very robust, and to not have a very long life and need replacing very frequently. Probably we use our kitchen gadgets a fair amount. The microwave wasn't used a great deal, but it soon got extremely rusty which is why it had to be recycled.