Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness

I was pretty stoic about the whole thing until then.

( This is about chores, but the chores were caused by dog poo. I don't go into any details but I understand if you don't want to read about that! )

I wadded up the duvet cover and the fitted sheet. I rolled up the rug, which is pretty big. I carried all these things downstairs, heading for the washing machine.

I stopped being stoic when I saw that the washing machine wasn't displaying "end" as I expected because MB and I had talked about her doing another load of laundry before I got mine last night. The washing machine was full of clothes, but the display didn't say "end." It said "E03."

And this is where I said the first words that weren't a few soft soothing ones to the very sad dog.

I said "No!"

I didn't say it like I was the good guy in a movie who's just realized his wife has been fridged or whatever motivation he has. It wasn't a howl of anguish.

It was more like I was telling off the washing machine.

No! Bad washing machine! This is not the time for this!!

This error message meant the filter was clogged, which means you have to get down on the ground and pry open the little door and unscrew the filter which is probably holding back a lot of water -- depending on where in its cycle the machine stopped but in my experience it always seems to be all the water that can fit in the machine -- which you have to put towels down for and mop up before you even get to finish this load of laundry, never mind anything you may or may not have suddenly intended to wash at 5:45 am!

Naughty washing machine. I needed so many towels. I ended up with a load full of sopping wet towels waiting in the sudden queue after the current load of laundry had been rinsed and drained and spun, and then after the more smelly laundry had been done.

Waking up with such an adrenaline shock (hey it worked, I saved the duvet!) and then such a long string of chores, and leaving a bed with no sheets on it, made me think that I should just stay up and try to start working, so that's what I did.

I was tired, but I actually had a piece of work I'd foolishly forgotten about yesterday which had to be done -- well, much more done -- this afternoon than it currently was, so it worked out well to have a couple hours to work on that before the higher-ups I needed to show it to today had even started their work day.

It went pretty well. Made for a very long work day. I know in these circumstances I tend to be fine until mid-afternoon and then I really crash, and today I had meetings 2-3 and then 4-5. Just about the time I wanted to take a nap.

I did lay down (though not sleep) while D heroically made dinner. I'm grateful he can do that. I am grateful that I'm surrounded by household infrastructure that makes such things no more than a nuisance. I am grateful that the washing machine wasn't more broken. I'm grateful that the tumble dryer exists and is also working. I am grateful that I could clean the rug but also that I could get a second opinion on whether I'd done it sufficiently -- because my nystagmus was bad yesterday, and it doesn't get better unless I sleep a lot, and I had not slept a lot since yesterday.

I said the other day that we've considered all this time since Halloween to be bonus time with Gary, and I really am grateful for that. Even in these circumstances, I'm just so glad he's here.