Appliances

Yesterday, we were having a relaxed, puttering kind of day and in the midst of my putterings in the kitchen, I dug out the stove drip pans and put them to soak in the sink, intending to scrub them later. R came in and said, “You know the oven really needs cleaning. Why don’t we set the self-clean thingy.” So we set it (after considerable meddling about with the switches). On the next trip in for a refill of coffee and tea, R says “We’re silly. We should have put in those drip pans too”. So we turn off the self-clean, wait for the door to unlock, shove them in, re-set it, and return to watching a billion episodes of Good Neighbors.

A couple hours later, chuckling over British humour, but starting to feel the pangs of hunger, we return to the kitchen with the intent of now shoving a pizza in the oven. The self-clean function appears to have finished. The oven feels cool to the touch. But the door won’t open. And it didn’t open for the next 1.5 hours. Finally, after a major repair operation involving R changing into mess clothes, pulling the oven out & unscrewing many screws, turning the breaker on & off repeatedly, hammering and much swearing, the door opens. And you know what? The damned thing is as dirty as before.