It started to snow quite heavily last night but fortunately a lot of it has disappeared. What is left is now frozen solid and Coco keeps barking every time a car goes down the road (which isn't very often) as it's so loud and she thinks we're being invaded!
It's cold and we have a bit of blue sky and it should last a whole day... the sky, the cold is forecast for the next week. I should say it's colder, as it hasn't been very warm here for what seems like forever. But this kind of day is lovely and I plan on getting out later.
I need to buy a new vacuum cleaner. Oh, the excitement. The one I have hasn't been very great since the day it came into the house and this week the brushes stopped turning. I got out the hose thing and put the nozzle on the end, which I always do for cleaning the stairs. Well, I think the thing was designed for very dinky people as I had to bend over to be able to reach the floor, it was backbreaking.
As the vacuum came from a Very Well Known Company I decided to e-mail them and inform them that I wouldn't be getting another model of theirs. A woman rang back three days later and asked if I'd dismantled the machine and replaced the belt recently. No. I told her it didn't matter why it had stopped working, I hated it anyway. It doesn't pick up cat hair from carpets, cat litter from hard floors, bits off the new carpet... it blows dust back out of a hidden orifice and it scratches painted floors. I've only stuck with the damned thing because it cost so much in the first place. I just wanted them to know is all.
So, I'm going to get a bog-standard model and have been reading reviews. My Dad offered advice (he does a lot of vacuuming at their gaff and my Mother likes a tidy place) and basically it comes down to getting a big motor for suction. I want a bagless contraption with a large dust well. I want it to suck up whatever is in its path. I want to be able to float around the house vacuuming with contetment. Ha!
