Day 1554 The new element

12th November 2021

I never know what to expect when Kelli says that we have something to collect. This happens often, and today was a classic.

First we had to unload the piece we collected yesterday. This was in good condition, the only area of damage was the bottom edge of the side panel where the veneer had splintered.

I decided to tackle the non functioning oven. I had looked on-line at possible faults, and it came down to a faulty heating element.

It was simple to remove, after turning off the power. As soon as I extracted it I saw what had happened. The push on connector had fried and disintegrated. Now I had to find the wire and remove that and get a replacement.

Pulling the cooker out and removing the back panel, it was easy to find and remove.

We then set off on another furniture collection expedition, stopping off to get a new element and cable.

The man in the parts department was helpful and soon found a replacement part but didn’t have a cable, but he gave me a push on connector that I could add to the old cable.

So fifty three bucks lighter, we set of to pick up the furniture.

The north side is the dodgy end of Holland, with lots of apartments and condominiums that aren’t the most desirable places to visit.

We arrived at the address, the garage was open and we could see the pieces that Kelli wanted. The garage had a lot of odd furniture in it, including another white tall dresser that she liked the look of.

The person selling was not home which meant corresponding by text. She was on the way but suggested that we loaded up the pieces and leave the money by the door.

We started with the larger brown dresser with strange things painted on the drawers.

I pulled open the bottom drawer which had no bottom panel. We carried the piece to the truck and loaded it. Then we decided to take the tall white dresser instead of a smaller brown one. This had been agreed with the seller, so I opened one of the drawers, and it was full of stuff, they all were. I searched around for a box to empty it into. There was all kinds of crap in them, paper, clothes and worst of all mouse droppings.

We carried the piece to the truck and loaded it.

Then we drove home feeling very dirty, and ready to burn our clothes.

On the was back Kelli spied a mid century style radiogram by the dustbins next to a keep fit centre. The piece had been left out in the rain for a couple of days, and we had a lot of rain, so the expectations weren’t great.

We pulled up next to it, and Kelli took a look, and announced that she wanted it, but as there was no room in the truck we would have to unload what we had and then return for the radiogram.

We found some space in the garage for the tall white dresser, and unloaded the brown one.

This was one we hadn’t checked all the drawers of, and yes there was crap in them which I threw straight into the dustbin.

Then it was back to snag the radiogram.

Fortunately it was getting dark, we pulled up next to the piece and jumped out. By now I was wearing bright yellow gloves which in the low light must have looked like floating hands.

Kelli looked inside and everything was there.

It was a heavy bugger and took most of mine and all of Kelli’s strength to lift it.

Normally we can load things quick and easily, but for some reason the piece got jammed on the door hook and we couldn’t move it. Panic took over, this was supposed to be a slick operation not a fumbling farce. Adrenaline kicked in and we managed to unhook it and slide it.

We made our getaway, and arrived home with this relic of the sixties in our procession.

My day hadn’t finished, I still had to refit the new heating element into the oven.

This was easy, apart from fixing the element into the oven. The door was so big it was difficult to stretch my arms inside to tighten the screws, it was so dark inside with only the light from my phone to help. Finally it was done.

I switched on the power, and tested it, it worked, now I need a rest, it’s been one hell of a day.