Spring and cleaning

With my tulips and daffs in flower and my grass demanding to be cut for the first time this year….. spring is definitely in the air!  We have been hibernating for what seems like two winters as last summer was a bit of a wash out in so many ways, so my urge to do a bit of spring cleaning has become palpable. In fact, I was overdue doing some last year but we planned some renovations and so thought we would wait. Unfortunately the renovations have been delayed and the spring cleaning just got…… err, missed!

Things were brought to a head when I was offered the chance to try out the Vax carpet cleaner todays special value, and I jumped at the chance. The carpet in our main living area isn’t big and it’s been down for over 20 years, seen two kids, three cats four dogs and a few partridges and pear trees as well.  I used to shampoo it every year but things have gotten a bit behind schedule and I don’t think it’s been done for three of fours years now.  My wife is always reluctant for me start as she is worried it won’t dry quickly and we’ll be sitting there with the windows open for days.  She wasn’t keen on me doing it March as the average temperature was ….. three degrees below Baltic! However, when I pointed out that the Vax has a special dry only function to really get the carpets dry quickly, so I was given the green card.

When I have shampooed the carpets in the past, I am always rather disgusted by the filthy water that comes out but this time I was truly horrified. Our carpet does need to be replaced but I thought I see if we could refresh it until the renovations ( which involve flooring replacements ) were approved.

Oh my goodness, that carpet was utterly disgusting! It looked more like a pint of Guinness!

The first thing you’ll notice about the Vax platinum carpet washer is it has two blue brush bars at the front. Most carpet cleaners I have used have had just one, so I felt assured that the carpet was going to get a lot of ‘grooming’.  The next thing is that you don’t mix up the cleaning solution with the water, which is fairly common. The Vax has a separate container for the cleaning solutions and that makes sure there are no dilution mistakes (1:25, 40ml/litre etc).  This is a really good idea.

The best part, however, is the fact that the machine knows when to spray the cleaning solution on and when to suck it back up.  This is brilliant as every other machine I have ever used has required a bit of finesse when it comes to just how much cleaning solution is requires to get the carpet clean and how wet the carpet becomes.  The Vax automatically dispenses solution when you move forwards and automatically switches it off and starts sucking when you move backwards – genius!

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When you are sure the carpet is clean you can switch off the spray altogether and go into drying mode and this worked a charm.  In actual fact this machine left the carpet drier than any other machine I have ever used.  I started cleaning the carpet at 10am and the furniture was all back in place, on a clean dry carpet,  by 3pm – truly better by a country mile than anything I’ve ever used before. Now the carpet isn’t as good as new, after all it’s 20 years old, but it certainly was cleaner and smelt fresher (and not like wet wool) and was brighter.  I suppose the true testimony was when my daughter came home from school. Even though the lights were all off, the first thing she said;” Why’s the carpet so clean?”  Must have made a big difference!! We’ll be cleaning every carpet in the building on Sunday so join us then to find out if it would suit your carpets

Luckily, before the cleaning, we had managed to have a bit of a break over the half term when we had a few nights in a hotel. My daughter and I were booked on a French brasserie cookery course and my wife into the spa (only coming out to eat when the soufflé was ready). It was a great course and we really enjoyed learning a few classic French culinary techniques… and my wife enjoyed the ‘fruits’ of our labours!

I’ve been busy in the prep kitchen at work too making my early morning smoothies in the Blendtec TSV that coming your way on Wednesday! 60 seconds to a beautiful glass of heathy ‘get up and go’ in the wee small hours.  It’s a two-piece bundle featuring the Blendtec Designer 650 Blender that incorporates six pre-set cycles and an eight-speed capacitive touch slider, plus a Pulse and Illuminated, capacitive touch interface, complete with a mini Wildside blending jug that’s perfect for a single-serve. Providing a revolutionary blending experience, you can whip up an array of delicious smoothies, cocktails, dressings, dips and more with this sleek and super-fast blender.

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It’s Small but mighty – specially engineered to enhance blending performance, and I like the lightweight, single-serve jug which has been designed to ensure blending is stress-free. Allowing for easy lifting and pouring, it also remains durable, featuring two vertical ridges on the interior walls designed to disrupt the blending pattern even further and accelerate the blend.

Join us in the morning show on Wednesday to find out more.

An update on my Gudoshnik tulips from Plants2gardens – they are coming through! Protected against the squirrels, I think they are going to do well.  I’ll keep you posted ( and hope Ken is proud of my efforts).

Simon x

@simonbiagi

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