Meet Vanessa - Not a Kitten!

 

The rather unfortunate angle at which this photograph was taken does make her look rather like a loo seen from above, but actually this is Vanessa the Vacuum Cleaner. 

Very long term readers may remember Robbie the Robot who the OH bought as suitable only for spares from e-bay and  repaired. For several years Robbie trundled about the house hoovering the carpets but he became more and more erratic and eventually succumbed to old age, fatigue and too much fibre wrapped around his innards. 

For a while, several years in fact, we just  swapped to using an ordinary vacuum cleaner that relied upon a human being to push it around. The OH did most of the heavy lifting on that to begin with as I have had, since childhood, a deep aversion to the sound of hoover motors which tenses me up physically and mentally (unfortunate but there you go) . That said I did do my share especially over the last six months or so. 

We sometimes had rather desultory conversations about replacing Robbie with a new model but these things are expensive and the hoover that needed pushing about was doing perfectly well. And then not long before Christmas the OH found one that was on offer and after a bit of a chat we ordered it. 

My word, these things have come on since Robbie's day. Vanessa the Vac  can be infinitely programmed to do different bits of the house at different times. She has a voice and tells you what she's gong to do just before she does it. She not only hoovers but washes floors as well. (If only she could wield a duster I could rest safe in the knowledge that my housework was in safer and more regular hands then mine. She originally showed a tendency to bossiness, often commanding the OH to empty her dust collector in a very firm tone, nut he has since invested in a little accessory - her very own dust bin into which she can automatically discharge all the stuff she has picked up from the floor. 

I have to say that she's also quite quiet which I am grateful for. As is the cat, although he still regards her  with a mixture of fear and suspicion. You know those little videos you see on You Tube of cats merrily riding around the house on top[ of automatic vacuum cleaners? Not happening in this house!