Saturday, March 03, 2012

Hooray for labour-saving devices!

Big news! I made the trek out to Auchan today for something entirely different and ended up being swayed by a 50-euro vacuum cleaner - a 50-euro, 8-kilo vacuum cleaner that I had to haul home on the bus along with two other bags of purchases, I might add. It was all totally worth it though. I've always hated vacuuming with a passion - I'd much rather clean a (not disgusting) toilet than vacuum (and by clean, I mean actually *clean* not like my stupid sorority-girl ex-flatmate from Nice who thought that she'd cleaned the toilet by putting Toilet Duck in it and flushing. Fo' serious). This has all changed, however, after spending the past 7 months sweeping the floors by hand. Even in a 30 sq m (? the square metrage of one's apartment, like one's glasses prescription, is for me one of the mysterious things in life that everyone else seems to know by heart except for me) apartment with lino floors, sweeping the floor is time-consuming and difficult. And then there's the fact that it never ends up properly clean at the end of it - if you don't miss half the dirt in the first place, then it just floats off out of the dustpan the second you turn your back. So yes, it may be lame, but I am uber-enthused about my new vacuum cleaner. A very sucky motor (to quote a vaguely racist vacuum-cleaner ad from back home) it may not be, but it does the trick a whole lot better than a dustpan and broom! (Bob's not quite so keen on it though...)

I have a theory that if everyone had to do their time in crappy customer service jobs, then the world would be a much nicer place. Well, 7 months without a vacuum cleaner might not bring us that much closer to ending war, but it definitely helps towards appreciating the little conveniences of modern life, and I for one am sparing a thought for all the women (and hey, maybe even the occasional man, if we're lucky) through the ages stuck cooking and cleaning and looking after their kids without such things. So join me in raising a glass - to labour-saving devices!


Mmm - looks good, doesn't it? One of my special wines I discovered at the Vitiloire festival (there is a wine festival in a couple of weeks - can't wait!) I haven't actually drunk a lot of wine over winter, but hey, what better occasion than this? Planning on making myself a chorizo and chickpea stew for dinner and chilling - I decided to stay in this weekend because I'm supposed to be doing some more work on that damn auto-entrepreneur job. So far... not so much. But there's still like 36 hours of the weekend to go, right? Just one glass won't hurt :)

6 comments:

  1. Yay! And CheerS!!!

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  2. God. I hate vacuuming too, but I could sure really use one. I feel like France is so much dustier than my life ever was in the States.

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  3. Let's switch - I love vacuuming and hate cleaning toilets! Seriously, I do some of my best thinking while vacuuming. Maybe it's because the noise drowns out everything else.

    Yes, three cheers for labor saving devices are in order! I don't know how my grandmother managed to raise 9 children without them.

    Isn't it amazing what you can carry on a bus! I've seen people with all sorts of things.

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  4. Shannon - come borrow mine??

    MK - Hmm, I'll wait to switch until I'm in a bigger place before taking you up on that I think! Ha, yeah, who needs cars? Was quite awkward though!

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  5. I hate our french vacuum. I always end up pulling out our US one, hooking it up to the transformer and then scaring my dog and cat half to death. And I completely agree the world would be a much nicer place if every single person had to work in a customer service job for a few months!

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  6. Yep! Travelling too, if not living in a foreign country, would be highly beneficial in terms of broadening the mind, understanding what it's like to be an immigrant etc.

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