Today is pay day. Hurrah! The one day in a drab and dismal month of work that has any joy or meaning.
And it has been such a long time since we last got paid, what with Christmas and the holidays and having to spend our hard-earned pounds on snowshoes and ice-picks and other stuff we didn't want, just so we could get in to work.
But enough of that. We have been paid and what better time to treat yourself to a new household appliance? Our resident Domestic Goddess has already done so - and look how happy she is!
You may not know this, but in the olden days carpet sweepers were made of wood. No, really. Look:
If you read the small print you'll probably come to the conclusion that this wasn't what you'd call environmentally sustainable; the carbon footprint of 19,000 miles of carpet-sweeeper transportation alone is a nightmare, and I bet the vermilion forests of India have long since become extinct.
Isn't it a good job we've got plastic and aluminium and other ecologically sound materials these days?
Our Domestic Goddess has purchased the HOKY 23T Carpet Floor Sweeper. It is so light a 90 year old can use one, so small it will fit through your letterbox (and even it doesn't, Wilf will bring it in for you) and they last FOREVER!
Those of you on management salaries might like to consider the Hoky PR3000 Rotorblade Carpet Sweeper. A carpet sweeper with rotating blades! How great is that?!!!
It has come to the Crab's attention that the Hoky uses brushes made of boar and horse hair and is therefore unsuitable for vegetarian dust and dirt. Apologies to those of you of the delicate persuasion.
ReplyDeleteI read your comment on Corrie cliches. So Daryl Morton left by bus...he'll be back to work in the kebab shop? Seems like such a step backward from a life in Spain...and Amber is no longer a regular character...{sigh!}
ReplyDeleteHow did you happen to think up the name Dishwasher Crab? It's a great moniker/nom de plume...
Also "it's full of stars"... that's a line from the movie 2001:A Space Odyssey, isn't it? Kind of a jumbled up movie, but I remember liking it at the time. Well, I don't have much to add regarding carpet sweepers. I have hardwood floors myself thinking it's a bit more hygienic.
So hello to you from Canada...a fellow Corrie watcher. Our public broadcaster CBC plays the episodes on TV and online. We're about 9 to 10 months behind... Rita is being romanced by Colin.
Your blog is funny and clever. I hope you keep posting and I'll keep reading...cheers.
Good Grief! I never imagined anyone would ever leave a comment on my blog, and hence I've never looked for one. Please don't think I've been ignoring you.
ReplyDeleteAmber, sigh, indeed. Apart from anything else I miss all the great gags about "That London". Nine months is long time behind, but on the plus side, you've got some great comic treats to look forward to. Possibly none as fine as the Corrie Book Group from a few years ago though.
The original point of this blog was meant to be a book review of Mandingo - the book the Book Group weren't allowed to read. I don't suppose you've read it by any chance?
Yes, it's from 2001.
Dishwasher Crab is an anagram.
Good tip about hardwood floors - I believe the Domestic Goddess also owns a mop, I will ask her about it when she gets into work.
Hi Dishwasher Crab, it's Hehjung, but I've decided that a more interesting name is appropriate so I settled on Snacking on Corrie since that's how I found your blog. We're behind with Corrie in Canada, but I LOVE the Corrie blog which has the detailed summaries of current episodes. Plus the UK's ITV website -- although being in Canada I cannot play the ITV episodes of Corrie --they post on their website, detailed stills of the current episodes. I think they give me a pretty good idea what's happening now on the Cobbles. Yes, I've had to suffer through the horrible affair between Kevin Webster and Molly Dobbs along with the rest of you Brits {sigh and groan!} and in early December I nearly fell into a mini-depression at the news of Maggie Jones's passing -- Blanche is/was my favourite character...what shall I do without her dry, cutting wit shooting across the cobbles {more sighing}.
ReplyDeleteI must have started watching Corrie after the Book Group thing, and I've never heard of the book Mandingo until you mentioned it (-- so I did what people who spend too much time on the web do-- looked up on the ol' wikipedia--) I guess I understand now why the book might have offended the sensibilities of some --that is funny! But I've been in book clubs myself and really enjoyed having the incentive/ encouragement to read works that I may not have chosen on my own. A couple of them were:
1) Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections"
2) John Irving's "The Fourth Hand"
3) Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones" (it's a movie now)
4) forgot the author, "The Ash Garden"
5) Yann Martel, "Life of Pi" (one of my favourite)
6) a short story, "Brokeback Mountain" -- which some years later got turned into a movie
7) Ha Jin's, "Waiting"
(continued from above...sorry... broke the length limit for a single Comment...)
ReplyDeleteYou being a librarian must be very well read and steeped (as they say) in the "canons" of Western Lit-- how tremendous to be able to have that grounding in the classics. We, in Canada do not get that! And a university library at that -- yes, I would think that it would be a place full of enchantment and wonder, with the potential to change not just the future of mankind but of the very universe itself... but then I wasn't born yesterday and I'm somewhat a bit of a cynic (having put in my own time in cubicle/office life -- pushing paper and sometimes people) so I can hazard a guess and conclude that it's the usual thick soup of bureaucrats, petty politics/bickering, mis-allocated resources and priorities...{sigh}.
But let's cheer up and as you Brits (and Corrie-types) say, "I'll put the kettle on and let's have a brew".
Well, I've enjoyed reading the posts and getting caught up with Corrie. And I'm especially delighted that you responded to my Comment. I'm sorry I'm not able to discuss "Mandingo" with you - perhaps I'll pick up the book next time I'm by the book shops... or my library. But I've not gotten much novel reading these days... too much time on the pc which has snuck its way into daily life so that it's now overtaken just about every part of life -- emails, recipes, entertainment, work, etc.
I would love to hear more of what you think about the Corrie episodes, though...I'm not particularly concerned about spoilers since the summaries are so detailed...in the Canadian episodes -- Blanche has just accused Dierdre of trying to starve her by giving her a thinner sandwich than Ken. Ken is carrying on his affair with the beautiful lady of the barge Martha...
Say hello to the Domestic Goddess. For my hardwood floors, I use a "swifer" - dry and wet. Swifer sheets can be thrown out after use. A bit easier and more convenient than mopping and mops. Mops need to be washed after use and they need to be placed somewhere warm to dry...and an upside down mop drying near a window or on a terrace isn't the most pleasant sight {sigh}...I suppose that's why I chose the "disposable" alternative despite it being a bit more environmentally destructive.
"Snacks" a.k.a. Hehjung
ps -- Oh please do put up more posts...on Coronation Street or anything else. If anything, Corrie has gotten me so interested in life in the UK!
Hi Snacking! How lovely to hear from you. Yes, there will be more posts - as soon as inspiration hits me. I've got a valentine's special up my sleeve for later in the week, but sadly that has nothing to do with Corrie.
ReplyDeleteInteresting you should mention Martha from the barge. We've just had her on the celebrity version of Big Brother here. You know how, every time Ken appeared, she had a big vat of soup on the go, and she was always dishing up meals to him? When she was on BB she didn't cook anything at all. She was rubbish! Pfft. Who would have guessed?
The Corrie Book Group was great, in that no-one except Ken ever wanted to discuss the books, most of them didn't even read them, and all anyone ever wanted to do was eat sandwiches and gossip.
I love the way real life is so like Corrie!
Oh Dishwasher Crab,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that lovely Martha was rubbish in real life/reality TV. I suppose we hope sometimes that the characters we grow to like on TV somehow have a bit of continuity to the real person, but more often that's not the case...{sigh}. I love how Brits use the term "rubbish". Kelly Crabtree called Steve McDonald a "rubbish date".
About the Corrie Book Group -- that's so funny but so expected - everyone's more interested in the gossip than the book. And yes, I, too love the way real life is so like Corrie.
I am looking forward very much to your Valentine's special. I wish I could do a blog of my own, but for now I think I'm better at reacting to people's blogs than putting up a blog of my own.
I'd hoped the Corrie Book Group would run forever, not every week obviously, but as a sort of plot device that they could trot out from time to time when the scriptwriters had come up with sparkling dialogue and didn't know where else to use it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your earlier book list. I'm reading Lovely Bones at the moment - very enjoyable.
I'm starting to wonder if my valentine idea might be too tasteless - so I've blogged about hell and death instead.
I guess I haven’t read such unique material anywhere else online.
ReplyDeleteCarpet Cleaning London