Washing woes

Have you ever wondered why men aren’t keen on house work? A simple thing like an iron has some 20 options. The microwave has 19, plus the sub-menus. Is it any wonder that reheated meals can either be cold or too hot to eat?

Then there’s washing machines. Power, push on and lights flash then turn off. It’s not faulty, just the machine checking that you really want it to wake up and wash your dirty linen.

Our New Zealand-made Fisher & Paykel has done the job for more than 25 years and still works like new. That’s after you’ve managed to tell it what you want done. Power on, auto it turns off, power on again and ready to select. Six cycles, three options probably for each cycle, three water temperature selection options, four water levels, hot or cold water option. Delay, why delay? Maybe hoping one will have a change of mind. Delay one, three or nine hours. Lidlock. The tricky one. Once it starts to spin, the red lid lock light flashes and that’s it until the end.

In a hurry to hang out the wash? Don’t be. The spin can’t be shortened or hurried. Stop and restart? Not on. It simply starts the spin cycle again.

At least during wash one can lift the lid and add that forgotten bit of underwear. Then there’s the delicates option. Have never worked out what that one really means.

At least with top loaders that extra item can be added during the wash. Front loaders. Well that’s a different story, unless you want to give the laundry floor a quick once over. I’ll stick to cars. New cars? Now that’s a whole new story.

RAY HARCH Toowoomba