My holiday week that was

It isn’t over yet, but it goes like this.  I took the week off because a) it has been an eventful year and I am just TIRED and b) I wanted to start move preparations.  I am also trying to give up smoking (again) which makes me GRUMPY!

Monday – go to work for half a day then come home and cook dinner.  Nothing too major.  Decided to try to do the tax returns but discovered I can’t do Mr O’s tax return over the internet because it is his first one and he has to declare my taxable income.  Bugger.  I am a long way from completing my tax return.  Oh well.  Mr O is (again) stunned at the paperwork involved.  He is even more stunned he will actually get tax back!

Tuesday I declared to all and sundry I was RESTING!!!  Doing NOTHING!!! Which I sort of did, apart from fiddling around on the computer and writing a bit.  Then disaster struck.

You may recall we are a family of SIX.  Considered a large family these days!  No washing machine is just NOT an option.  I can’t remember when I bought this one, but it is a few years ago now.  The last time I got a washing machine fixed (was it in fact this one?) I remember it being a rather expensive exercise and with an older machine what part of it is going to die next?  Plus this is a little washing machine, meant for ONE person.  It really doesn’t cope with the work load we have been putting it through with six people: no wonder the poor thing died.

Mr O and I stared blankly at our dead appliance.  We are moving.  Money, always tight, is TIGHT right now. DAMN, DAMN, DAMN.

Oh well, I am on holidays, I decided to spend Wednesday looking for a machine that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.  Mr O and I started looking at prices on the internet.  We decided that if we had to get a new washing machine, it had better be bigger and more efficient.  Energy and water ratings are important.

The only problem: 8 kilo (or larger) washing machines are not so cheap.  Front loaders, the wonderfully water efficient type, are also not so cheap. Not cheap + not cheap = EXPENSIVE!  Plus there is the question of the different laundry powder/liquid.

Bugger!

So yesterday I started more research and comparing prices.  I saw one with a price of $1,059 crossed out and the words “Cheaper in store” in bold red letters.  OK – how MUCH cheaper?  When I called I discovered the outlet in question was no longer actually a retail store but handled factory seconds.  Really?  Interesting!  Yes, they did have one of this particular model in stock, with a few scratches but not too bad and still with a 1 year warranty.   The price?  $400 cheaper than an unscratched one.  Downside?  Could not use interest-free.

Excel to the rescue.  Cheaper to pay retail and use interest-free, or buy the cheaper one and use the credit card for a month or two.  Answer was clearly buy the cheaper one.

Off I went to buy the washing machine.  It certainly didn’t look as shiny as a new, unscratched one, but not too bad.

Came home and started, with Miss O 1′s help, on going through piles of paperwork to get rid of anything we don’t need to move.

Now I am waiting for the call from the delivery guy.  So far, nothing and it is 10:30am.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  I have better things to do than wait around here all day.

While dealing with the pile of paperwork I discovered, on a piece of paper needed for the tax returns, something I had not noticed: the health insurance company have loaded Mr O’s premium by 26%. This is all to do with how the Australian system works, for overseas readers.  If you don’t take out private health insurance by a certain age (somewhere around 30, I believe) then if/when you take it out later, you pay a loading.  Mr O, as a migrant, is exempt from the loading, provided he took out insurance within 12 months of arriving in Australia, which he did.  This is fair enough as clearly a person can’t have private health insurance when they don’t live in the country!  NB: I am not sure which other visa classes this may or may not apply to!

The health fund demands a letter from Medicare.  I call Medicare.  Lines are too busy, try again in the morning at 8am I am advised.  So this morning I leap out of bed ON MY HOLIDAY, spend 18 minutes on hold only to be told I have to go to a Medicare office to get the letter, they can’t email me the letter.  No only that, I can’t actually do it, my husband has to do it!  Privacy laws are out of control in this country sometimes!  Good, but can be inconvenient for a family. He is working!  Arrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhh.  Mr O now has a little job to do on the way home from work.

Retired and waiting for removal

I have disconnected the old washing machine and it is sitting by the back door, forlornly awaiting a trip to the rubbish tip. Or, as Mr O suggested, perhaps they will fix it (I don’t think so, it is too old now I think).  I’ve washed the floor – how does dirt get under the washing machine?  Revolting!  The waiting washing has overflowed, clearly!

I have had two calls from the Australia Human Rights Commission in relation to my complaint and I am still waiting for a call from the school’s ESL co-ordinator (that is a whole other article to come) and a call from Mr O’s apprenticeship centre!

10:50 am – Just got the call!  Delivery between 12 and 2pm.  Time for a coffee!  Holidays?

1:00 pm – Still waiting!

2:00 pm – Installed!

Dashed out to buy the right laundry liquid, loaded the machine and popped in some linen.  Excitedly I watched the sheets turning around, but thought to myself “doesn’t seem to be much water at all”.

Then I wondered why my toes were wet.  I had a flooding laundry floor.  DAMN!

Rang driver, nothing he can do, tells me to call store.  Nothing THEY can do at 3:00 pm, they will TRY to arrange for Fisher & Paykel to come out tomorrow.

I think I know what is wrong – there is a hose under the machine for emergency draining.  I think it has come loose so instead of emergency draining, it is permanently draining.

To top it off, I realised I forgot to cancel a meeting for today.

Another call: Fisher & Paykel will be here tomorrow between 2 and 5 pm.  So I guess I’m not doing anything exciting tomorrow.  I need a holiday from my holiday!

And the washing pile grows……..

The scratches/marks aren’t too bad, in fact with a little eucalyptus oil I think they will all be gone.

Front

Top