I'm waiting for the dishwasher repairmen. Of course, I've spent lots of time waiting for repairmen of some sort or another, although not so much since we've moved to Portugal.

Thank God it's not plumbers, that's all I have to say.

Anyway, the Diswasher Dudes are bringing our geriatric dishwasher back, presumably all fixed up and raring to go. The sink is full of teacups and so forth, and I went to wash them earlier on, but then I thought Wait! I don't have to do that. When the dishwasher gets here, I can just shove them in there! Might as well have something to test the dishwasher with, eh? And if it doesn't work, then I can always wash them later.

I have some laundry going as well, so I suppose my morning hasn't totally gone to waste. I would like to go to the gym, but since I don't know exactly when the Dishwasher Dudes will arrive, I haven't gone yet. As it turns out, I could have, but then of course they would have showed up earlier. Or when I was in the shower. As they do. As it is, everytime I go to the toilet, I expect the doorbell to ring.

We had fun last night. Played some darts, very poorly on my part. I blame yesterday's Body Balance class for making my arms all limp and noodle-like. After that, we went to the Irish Pub to listen to some live music and see Maude, her son and his wife. Maude had brought Harold this time. The problem with Harold is that you get either the Harold That's Fun To Be Around (increasingly rare), or you get the Drunken Snarky Harold that you pretty much want to slap. We got the latter, although he was on his Very Best drunken snarky behavior, which basically means you only want to slap him once instead of repeatedly. He didn't insult anyone (loud enough to hear, anyway), or start any fights or anything else out of his usual bag of tricks.

Although it was close at one point. Maude has a new job and is moving to another country before too long. At first, Harold said that he hadn't made up his mind whether to go with her or not. We figure he will, since he can't support himself on his own. Sure enough, last we heard he's planning to move with her. Maude was telling us about their plans for next New Year's: her son and DIL are coming to visit "at my new home in NewCity." Harold opened his mouth as if to say "shouldn't that be OUR new home?" He gave her a wary, bleary look and she just raised her eyebrows and continued on with the rest of their plans. Harold shut his mouth and sulked.

Or I suppose she could have told him that she doesn't want him to go with her. That was, according to Miss Kitty, part of Maude's original plan when she first started looking for another job. They're an interesting couple. The both insist, separately, that they just have a temporary relationship, for as long as it lasts, and that neither thinks they have a real future together. That's what they say, what they do is an entirely different matter and it drives Miss Kitty nuts. "They're so bloody dependent on each other!"

They're rarely apart, for one thing. Lunch with the ladies? Girls' night out? Chances are, Maude will drag Harold along because she feels sorry for him at home by himself. If she does come by herself, she'll be calling him constantly and will leave early to be with him. Maude will, however, go out without him. Harold never does. Maude keeps encouraging him to have a night with the boys, or just do SOMETHING without her, but he's really only got one male friend to go out with, unless he tags along with his friend's friends. He used to have more friends, but he's alienated them. It's very rare that the Pleasant Fun Harold shows up these days. Even if he does make plans with his friend, somehow he'll end up wherever it is that Maude is.

I do think his perpetual lack of money has something to do with it as well. He's back at the crappy job that he hates. It seems selling aluminum siding didn't work out. Now, if you rely solely on comission, and you can't make enough money to pay rent-- much less have spending money-- doing so, wouldn't you think that maybe sales is not the job for you? Then again, he's really not qualified to do anything else. In fact, he has no qualifications whatsoever. This astounds me, since he is an incredible snob. Oh, I suppose he could do bar work, but I doubt he'd be very good dealing with customers and he's not much of a worker, so maybe not. It's a moot point, really, since Harold considers bar work "beneath him." That man is just unbelievable.

~*~ Interlude ~*~

Well, that was amazingly pleasant. The Dishwasher Dudes showed up with our dishwasher, hooked it back up, and turned it on to show that it now works. I paid them, they gave me an actual receipt, and they left. Ten minutes, tops.