Z finally gets what Z wants

After we moved here (that will be 29 years in July), I bought myself a Magimix, which I’d hankered after for some time.  It was the leading brand in food processors, so of course that was the one I wanted.  And I loved it and used it a good deal.

I also had a Kenwood food mixer, which had been an extraordinarily generous wedding present from a friend of Russell’s parents.  She owned a fruit farm a few miles from here – when Russell befriended us, after my father died (I may not have told you about that, but it’s another story), he used to give us a box of apples as a present, once in a while and he’d bought them from her.  Anyway, it was wonderful.  It has always been an expensive item – though there’s a range of models now, there wasn’t then and it cost hundreds, even then – and she had included various attachments too.  Hugely generous and I used that a good deal too.

However, the time came when I felt I had too many gadgets out on the worktop and I decided to give the Kenwood a rest.  I told Russell and he put it down in one of the garages, that wasn’t used for a car.

A couple of years later – we’re still going back more that 20 years – I wanted to do a lot of baking and i asked Russell to bring it up.  He looked a bit startled, which puzzled me at the time but not all that much.  He went and looked and came back to say he couldn’t find it.  “I know exactly where it was,” I said and went down with him.  It wasn’t there.

I’m a patient woman and I didn’t nag, only asking a couple of times over the next few years if he’d found it, but he never had.  And last autumn, we turned out that garage and it wasn’t there.  I hadn’t actually been looking for it, so it’s only been recently that the answer has dawned on me: he gave it to someone and didn’t feel able to tell me.  I can imagine the situation; a friend said that her trusty Kenwood had finally packed in and he helpfully said there was one languishing in the garage that I didn’t use and he would give it to her.  I’ve always been a ludicrously trusting and laid back type and I’d never have thought of such a thing, except his reaction when I asked for it was unusually agitated and, a couple of years later, he bought me one for a few quid at a car boot.  It didn’t work and I asked him to dispose of it in a few pithy sentences.

Anyway, I’ve had a shocking array of bills in the past week – another £800-odd down yesterday and the man came to read the electricity meter today, so the pain isn’t over yet.  And some total ***** hit my car on the car park (I was unaware until driving home)  and I’ve had my wing mirror replaced today and need a new wing.  All the same, bills totalling some £8-10 thousand are dismaying, but only a real cause for distress if you haven’t got the money and I have, sitting right there.  £1,000 of it was voluntary anyway, having the church railings painted in memory of Russell.  There were kind and generous donations and I’ve topped it up to complete the job.

The thing is, none of these bills was anything tangible.  Council Tax.  R’s Income Tax.  Water Rates.  Calor Gas.  Car insurance.  London flats insurance. Accountant.  And so on and so on.  So I *needed* something for me.  And I’ve replaced my dear old Kenwood with this.  I didn’t get it from Amazon but from an actual factual shop that upped the guarantee to five years for a mere £5 extra.

it’s absurd really that I’ve bought such an elaborate machine when there’s only me, most of the time.  But I am responsible only for myself, for the first time in my life, I do my best to help those I care for and one of those is me.

11 comments on “Z finally gets what Z wants

  1. kipper

    It is almost sculptural and you definitely do deserve a treat!
    I took my mother’s Kitchen Aid stand mixer, with her permission. She had it stored in a closet. I always wanted one but couldn’t afford it. It works well, but my oh my that thing is heavy!

    Reply
  2. Blue Witch

    Fantastic! With all the baking you do, a Kenwood will undoubtedly be just the thing, and, if it’s built like the old ones, will see you out. I know people who are still using their original ones fomrthe late 60s when they first came out.

    For another time, are you aware that you can pay council tax and water rates over 10 (or now 12) months at no additional charge? Why give them your money before you have to? Keep it in your accounts, earning (admittedly pitiful at the moment) interest!

    Reply
  3. Blue Witch

    Oh and – does the car park not have CCTV?

    I can’t believe that no-one saw and left a note, if the driver who did the damage was dishonest enough not to.

    Put everyone you know on alert to find a car with matching damage… you live in a relatively small commuity… people tend to use the same car parks…

    Reply
  4. Rog

    I nosily clicked your mixer link and now am being bombarded with ads for mixers on any web page I care to click! Serves me right.

    Reply
  5. Z Post author

    I pay my Council Tax by direct debit and was offered the option of spreading the payment. However, the interest I receive is negligible and it might do the council a bit more good to have it up front. I’d just as soon the council had it as that the bank is making money on it.
    I’m afraid it happened in Norwich and I’d parked in several places, including on the street. I was well on the way home before I looked in my nearside wing mirror, I don’t know where or when it happened.
    Kippy, this one isn’t as heavy as my old one, though it’s still pretty bulky.
    Mago, Ronan and I were saying just that the other day, when he was talking about his £70 knife. He’s far more of a chef than I am!

    Reply
    1. Blue Witch

      I admire your generosity towards your local council.

      By judicious use of a variety of interest-paying current accounts (5%) I make enough out of keeping council tax and water bill money, until I have to pay it, to fund half the water bill every year.

      But, I also understand that your pleasures in life come from other things than playing a complex game of bouncing money around to screw banks of every last penny one can 🙂

      Reply
      1. Z Post author

        Maybe I’ll do that one day, but I frankly doubt it. At present, keeping up with paperwork is making me anxious enough!

        Reply
  6. Liz

    I sympathise about the car; the same thing happened to me a few years ago and I didn’t notice the damage until I was cleaning the car the following weekend. When I backed into someone in a car park last month I left them a note with my phone number on, which is more than the schmuck who hit me bothered to do.

    I hope you enjoy your shiny new toy.

    Reply

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