Putting Up A Fight

This morning as we were rushing out of the door, late AGAIN for school (Juliette didn't get out of bed until 7.50, and insisted on having a shower...) Mrs Meddle started squawking French at me - I knew it was going to be either about the fact I put the dishwasher back through on another wash, as the cups and plates were STILL dirty after the previous wash, OR the fact I'd sneaked my clothes into the washing machine and put it on, OR the fact I was walking out of the door in 'only' a skirt and jumper. Or all three. Anyway, we were late so I ran after Juliette and Margot with her still screeching out of the doorway. 

In the car it struck me that maybe she'd turned the washing machine OFF, to save the wash for more clothes, and so spent the entire car journey fuming and working myself up into a rage. The HOUR-long trip home didn't help, and I could start to feel my hair rising up on end... They were doing some sort of road/building work on one of the 'main' roads, but because ALL the roads are one way/ no entry, by the time you'd driven up to the signs, you couldn't turn round, and as it is a main connecting road (and one of the few contraflow routes!) EVERYONE seemed to have gone that way. And for anyone wondering why traffic lights are called 'le fuir rouge' in French (and not 'vert', 'jaune' or just 'lumiere'), you only have to spend 5 minutes in a queue at the traffic lights which then let in 30-seconds worth of traffic through before switching back to red to find out. It took me an HOUR to do a ten minute journey. I practically had to drive round the whole outskirts of the town. So I returned an hour later, stressed and frustrated, and then sat down next to the washing machine whilst it went through (ok, so she hadn't turned it off), and prepared myself for the worst when I then put my stuff into the tumble dryer (IT'S WHAT WE DO IN THIS HOUSE). And sure enough she came shuffling down (she wears annoying slippers that hang off her feet and drag along the floor) and had a huge rant at me about how it used up electricity and heat (I think the dish-washer came involved too), and how I was supposed to use a net-bag if I wanted to keep my stuff separate....[Yawn] blah blah blah. I tired to look as bored and unconcerned as possible and waited for her to ramble her way into a void in space where aliens would use her as a device to 'phone home'. Well, needless to say, that didn't happen but she did FINALLY shuffle off. I still sat through to the end of the tumble dryer session though. 

She also dobbed me into William, who added later that putting the dishwasher through at 40 degrees was 'better for the planet'. So WHY three light-up reindeer and a sleigh have appeared in the garden and were lit (from an outdoor electrical plug) throughout the day and will-be through the night, I have no idea. So much for 'saving the planet'. I'd also like to add, that I'm the ONLY one here who recycles anything. YESTHAT'SRIGHT - Even the Scrimping Squawker throws boxes and milk cartons into the bin. And I rather think that having one less milk bottle in landfill will help the planet more than one less machine wash. Because if one person turns off a light, it is not going to change the world.