I'm all in a spin after my washing machine breaks down

11:41am Friday 11th April 2008

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I WAS brought up in the post war days of the boil wash and the mangle, so the washing machine is, for me, still a highly prized domestic item. You only need to have caught your fingers in the mangle once to appreciate the march of technology!

Having packed up within very short order after the expiry of its extended insurance (what a surprise), the current version in my home is not prized at all.

With statements ringing in my ears like "I have never known one of these have a motor failure before in all my years as an engineer" and "You're looking at around £500 to repair it - and then who knows what will go next" - I started looking for a replacement.

I wish I could say the consumers' magazines and internet comparison sites helped.

All they have done for me is raise issues that seem insoluble.

Do I forsake the quieter machines for ones that rinse properly and are therefore more desirable for those of us with" sensitive skins"?

We all like to think we're sensitive, don't we?

With a family of six at home, do I choose a larger drum capacity at the expense of higher spin speed?

Do I opt for lower water use and lose cleaning power?

Is it worth spending a few hundred more for reliability?

And then there's the guarantee period.

Is an expensive machine with a ten year guarantee better than a cheaper one that they're only prepared to warranty for a year or two?

Oh for a river and some nice rocks!

Why in the name of the god of white goods and detergents do they have to complicate the darn things so much?

Clean clothes, rinsed properly and spun effectively without enduring a noise that sounds like Concorde taking off - that's all most of us want in our homes.

How many people really use all those programmes and optional variations?

Whites and coloureds - that's all we need. And as for the latest arrival, the "hand wash setting" - don't they see the absurdity of that?

At the moment, the ten year guarantee is very attractive; it means I won't have to go through this process again until the London Olympics are a distant memory in the past, Wycombe councillors are contemplating renewing their tired town centre and we are all complaining about our football team being relegated from the Premiership.