Today we returned to the house in Alcácer do Sal, time to photograph and measure up rooms ready for advertising the house for sale. I have to say it looks and feels much better in the sunlight.
This must be my fifth or sixth visit to the house, we went up and back in a day today but we have spent one night there in the past. I was reminded of that today as I lay down for a ten minute rest in the heat of the afternoon.
I am like most people I know, the first night spent in a different bed is not as good as sleeping in your own bed, the mattress is wrong, the lumps and bumps in it are not your lumps bumps and this unfamiliarity often leads to a restless night.
When you have a restless night you are increasingly aware of strange and unfamiliar noises. The night we spent there was no exception.
There were clunks and gurgles worthy of Victorian plumbing — except the plumbing that night was turned off because of a water leak. As it was the middle of the night I was not about to get up and go exploring.
I had just laid down this afternoon and there it was again — “Clunk — gurgle — gurgle — Clunk.” This time I was in a position to get up and hunt down the source. I followed the noises to the kitchen — perhaps it was the plumbing after all.
I turned into the doorway and there it was again — the guilty culprit standing there in front of my eyes: Caught it !
Yes the culprit is the fridge — standing there chattering away like a huge aged R2D2.
This however is not any old fridge — it is an original Kelvinator that is over 60 years old and it is still working — albeit noisily.
It still has all its original parts; it has never had to be repaired. It even has most of its “instruction badge” remaining on the inside door.
Customer and curiosity satisfied!