They’re in full panic mode on the radio at the moment.

“Storm Barry” [or somesuch name] is apparently blowing up the west coast. There are lots of breathless reports about a tree blowing down or a house being flooded. They keep telling us worse is to come. Armageddon can’t come soon enough.

I do wish they’d stop naming winds. There is something very twee and American about it – it’s just a strong wind for heaven’s sake. We have had storms in the past many times and they were never named. They just came and went, trees blew down and power was cut but in the end we just got on with our lives.

In the meantime I thought I’d have a bash at fixing the washing machine. I bought a new part for it which arrived yesterday so I thought I’d have a go.

The bloke on YouTube made it look easy. All you have to do is open a panel on the back, remove some wires, loosen a nut and out pops the old one. Pop in the new one, attach the wires and tighten the nut. Replace the panel and that’s it. It couldn’t be easier.

However…

The bloke’s washing machine was on a table. Mine is on the floor, and the panel is at ground level with the part way inside the guts of the machine. I had to contort myself just to see the bits so actually working on them wasn’t quite so easy.

Bloke had a grand set of tools with power screwdrivers and socket wrenches. I didn’t. I had to rely on plain pliers and screwdrivers.

He made it look so easy but then I noticed there were breaks in the video. They had obviously cut out the bits where Bloke was cursing and swearing, the bits where his tools slipped and he had to rush for the first aid box and the bit where he lost his temper and hit the machine with a hammer.

He was working in a brightly lit workshop, probably with lighting for the sake of filming whereas I was down behind the waste bin at floor level where it’s dark. Of course all my torches need new batteries and my mobile phone just was too damned awkward. Most of the time I worked by feel.

It’s finished now. I haven’t pushed the machine back yet as I’m waiting for my back to resume normal service. I put on a test wash anyway just to see what happens. So far there are no strange noises, the fuses haven’t blown and the floor hasn’t flooded.

I don’t think it’s heating up though.

Fuck!