June 28th, 2008
It is Saturday night in Haifa, a little bit cooler this evening. Pat and I had a very quiet, low key Shabbat which included lovely dinner with friends Friday night, services Saturday morning followed by well deserved 2 hour naps uninterrupted by phone calls! We ended the day with a visit to a dear friend who had just returned to Israel from two weeks in England and Italy visiting her family.
I want to write a little bit on the lighter side tonight. One of the first things we had to do upon arriving at our apartment was buying a new washing machine. One would think this is a simple, relatively uncomplicated task; not necessarily. Two weeks ago we set off on Saturday night, after the stores reopened to price and hopefully buy our new washing machine. The new one would replace one we purchased when we bought our apartment almost ten years ago. That one was "made in Israel" something of which we were very proud at the time. We were limited in model because we have only a small space in our laundry room. We bought a small, top loader, made in Germany, not the top of the line, but reliable. I have finally given up my resistance to buying German products. They are everywhere in this country and Israel has strong ties on many levels with Germany.
The next step in the process was getting the machine delivered. This is handled by a different company. The machine arrived at our apartment on Tuesday, accompanied by strict insructions not to unpack the machine. A technician would call us and make an appointment to install the machine properly. So there it sat from Tuesday until Sunday.
We asked the person who delivered the new machine to take away the old one. In the process the faucet connecting the machine, broke; we could not shut it off and had to shut off the main to the whole apartment in order to avoid a major flood. Now get a plumber who would come speedily to repair the faucet. To our pleasant surprise we found a plumber through the Yellow Pages who came within the hour!
Sunday the technician came and not only installed the machine but insisted that we needed first, a wheeled cart on which the mahine would sit to facilitate moving if necessary; second, a surge protector; and third, a device that would soften the water in the entire apartment system (Haifa has water with heavy mineral content which causes little pebbles to form and block the faucets). All these "extras" were not included in the original "sale" price of the machine.
So, we are now owners and users of a new, updated washing machine!
That is all for tonight. More to follow
Frank
I want to write a little bit on the lighter side tonight. One of the first things we had to do upon arriving at our apartment was buying a new washing machine. One would think this is a simple, relatively uncomplicated task; not necessarily. Two weeks ago we set off on Saturday night, after the stores reopened to price and hopefully buy our new washing machine. The new one would replace one we purchased when we bought our apartment almost ten years ago. That one was "made in Israel" something of which we were very proud at the time. We were limited in model because we have only a small space in our laundry room. We bought a small, top loader, made in Germany, not the top of the line, but reliable. I have finally given up my resistance to buying German products. They are everywhere in this country and Israel has strong ties on many levels with Germany.
The next step in the process was getting the machine delivered. This is handled by a different company. The machine arrived at our apartment on Tuesday, accompanied by strict insructions not to unpack the machine. A technician would call us and make an appointment to install the machine properly. So there it sat from Tuesday until Sunday.
We asked the person who delivered the new machine to take away the old one. In the process the faucet connecting the machine, broke; we could not shut it off and had to shut off the main to the whole apartment in order to avoid a major flood. Now get a plumber who would come speedily to repair the faucet. To our pleasant surprise we found a plumber through the Yellow Pages who came within the hour!
Sunday the technician came and not only installed the machine but insisted that we needed first, a wheeled cart on which the mahine would sit to facilitate moving if necessary; second, a surge protector; and third, a device that would soften the water in the entire apartment system (Haifa has water with heavy mineral content which causes little pebbles to form and block the faucets). All these "extras" were not included in the original "sale" price of the machine.
So, we are now owners and users of a new, updated washing machine!
That is all for tonight. More to follow
Frank
posted by Frank and Pat Fischer at
12:34 PM
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