Dishwasher-safe?

IT’S A PESKY nuisance, our old dishwasher. It came with the house. I suspect the previous owners knew it was on its last legs, and hence made us a present of it. In the eight years we’ve owned it, we’ve used it maybe half a dozen times. With only the two of us, we rarely generate sufficient washing-up to justify its use. The wash cycle takes around three hours, and from the sound of the water slooshing around in it, it clearly takes more than the bowlful that I require when I do the job by hand.


An acquaintance of ours suggested we fill the dishwasher with several days’ worth of plates and things, and that way, by running it with full loads it will be more worthwhile. I decide to give this suggestion a try. So, since Friday, I’ve put all our dirty plates and cutlery into the machine. After the Saturday roast, in go as many of the utensils as I can manage. The trouble is, though, a lot of our stuff is of a pre-dishwasher age and so needs the tender loving care of a hand wash, anyhow. Moreover, we don’t have so many items going spare that we can leave them lying around for days on end, so we’re constantly diving into the machine to retrieve, say, the Pyrex measuring jug or the butter knife.


After this evening’s dinner I have no choice but to use the machine, otherwise, tomorrow, we’ll be dining off the tablecloth with our fingers. I try to fill the powder compartment with appropriate detergent only to find it has turned to lumps of rock in the bottle. I dig the stuff out as best I can, then I pound it back into powder form and pray that it will still work. Finally, I shut the door and turn on the power. Much groaning and rattling issues forth from the inside of the machine. The whole thing looks as if it is shaking itself to pieces. It settles down to a washy-sounding hum. All’s well, I hope. I go off and watch some telly while the machine in the kitchen goes through fits of noisiness and splashing. Finally, all goes silent. I venture in to inspect the results of the wash – and that’s when I discover that the powder compartment cover, which should spring open automatically, is tightly shut. All our plates and glasses and cutlery and pots have just had a three-hour soak in clean water! Some people should definitely not be let loose near machinery of any kind.


The only good thing is, after that soaking, the plates etc. are a breeze to wash by hand!