This has been a weird week, even for these COVID days. There’s been a lot of coverage of these ‘liberate the state’ protests, most of the proponents of which seem to live in the echo chambers of extreme right-wing clap trap and science denial. However, I take my hat off to the Lauren Leanders of this world – those in the healthcare profession who have the spine to counterprotest.

This isn’t a political blog. I’d love it to be, but I simply don’t have the time to be properly research and support my assertions to get them into public sphere in good time. There’s the saying that a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth even gets its shoes on. Keeping with that metaphor: I’ve no idea where my shoes are.

But here, I do have something of an understanding with regard to these protests. Keeping these ‘Safer at Home’ orders in place isn’t about you or me not getting COVID, it’s about neither of us transmitting it to some vulnerable poor sod who’s unable to cope with it.

It’s also about keeping the number of hospitalizations down to a manageable level.

Routine health care has fallen through the floor to the point that healthcare professionals are being furloughed, having their pay cut, having their hours cut or otherwise getting it in the neck, because people have backed away from routine care and healthcare in the US is a business, not a service. Meanwhile, in some locations – thankfully not here where I live, but there’s still time – hospitals are being stretched to breaking point with COVID patients.

So, if I hear about any counterprotest by healthcare professionals near me, where possible I’ll stand out there with them.

Domestic Appliances.

My own week hasn’t been anywhere near as exciting.

On Tuesday I pulled together a shopping list of things to get from Lowe’s to start reorganizing the shed and making concrete panels to replace the rotten wooden raised beds that are busy falling apart in the garden. I also got a shopping list together to replace parts on this computer which has taken to lightning strike industrial action – in the middle of writing a blog post, or revising a novel scene, poof, and it’s gone. Hundreds of dollars were about to be spent.

Then there came an incredible hammering sound from the back of the house. The washing machine was busy beating its own drum. Literally.

We checked out a YouTube video for the same issue on a similar model and the guy said on his machine it turned out to be what he called the ‘drum spider.’ It’s technical name is the ‘Washer Drum Shaft Assembly’ which retails about $150, not including shipping.

This part, however, is deep inside the machine, so the odds were that getting at it would both be a pain and result in other parts becoming compromised and requiring replacement.

So, we did a little research, went out to Lowe’s and, some thousand dollars later, there was a washing machine on order for a Thursday delivery.

Someone suggested that they were looking into a Speed Queen washing machine, so I checked out the price. Two and a half grand for a washing machine seems excessive to me, especially when I’d normally expect a washing machine to last no more than ten to twelve years. That’s a depreciation rate of about $100 a year, keeping the math easy, and that would mean a Speed Queen would have to last twenty five years. Frankly, I don’t see that happening. For me, they look like the Kirby of washing machines – very good but disproportionately priced.

But, anyway, all that money went to a new washer and not to fun projects to keep me busy when working on the novel isn’t an option.

What About This Book Of Yours?

It’s still a Work In Slow-Progress. I’m now two-thirds of the way through this fourth revision effort and, depending on how I crunch the numbers, it’s looking like being editor- or Beta-ready some time between 19-May and 2-June. When I work on the next novel, a lot of my approaches will be much better fine tuned, but like everything with this first novel, I’m really piecing it all together as I go.

Writing a blog about it right now isn’t that easy because it’s impossible to know whether talking about what’s actually happening in the story would work as a spoiler. What I can say about it is that the chapter I just finished contains a plot development that is designed to reveal that what the reader thought the story was about – or, what I hope they thought it was about – is completely wrong. The chapter I just started should serve as a hint toward the real message, but not enough of one to clue the reader in completely.

Of course, I could be completely wide of the mark, I have no idea what’s going to occur to the mind of any reader, or if my writing can even carry a story like this one.

My hope is that anyone who reads The Watching will walk away with their own conclusions which reveal how they engage with the world and regard the issues that I’ve touched upon.

Time will tell.

More Indecision?

If I can get everything together, I’ll probably be calling for Beta Readers after all, if only because there’s no immediately obvious chance I’ll have the liquid cash available for a professional editor and any feedback of some description would be welcome.

Meantime I’ll be getting on with more research for Lock Out Tag Out.

So… Now What?

Crunching the number yet another way suggests that if I get as much done this week coming as last week, I should be at the end of Chapter 14 by the next post. That’ll be my goal for the week and it’d be awesome to achieve it!

Other than that, let’s hope for a healthier, more disaster free week for everyone.

Enjoy doing your laundry and stay safe.

Categories: COVID-19, Equipment Failures, Heathcare, My Life, The Old Man, Work Update

Tags: Coronavirus, COVID-19, Equipment Failures, My Life, The Old Man, The Watching, Washing Machine