Well that was tiring...
Yesterday... (no, I'm not going to sing it...)
Arrived at CAB in good time to find that the Trading Standards Officer I was to see was running late: they'd had a fire (or possibly a fire drill, I didn't quite catch what was said) at her place of work.
But that was OK, it gave me a chance to browse a copy of Vogue and shudder at what passes for haute couture these days. Lurex ankle socks under strappy sandals with four inch heels worn with skimpy mini-dresses? Give me strength! They look like little girls dressing up in mummy's shoes. Or perhaps that's the idea - some sick paedophiliac attempt to present 'fashionable' women as cutesy helpless children.
I never did have any patience with 'fashion' or the victims that try to follow it.
HowEVER... The TS officer was great. I have learned:

That our contract is with Empire Direct, not Hoover-Candy (and for up to six years, apparently): ED sub-contracted to H-C, but it's ED's responsibility to put things right. That we are entitled, under Sec 14 of the Sale of Goods Act 1978, to goods which work properly and stay working properly for a reasonable amount of time. It was agreed that 5 weeks (first f.f.), three months (second f.f.), and 0 hours (third f.f.) does not constitute a reasonable amount of time for such an appliance. That our next step is to contact ED with a copy of the event log, stating exactly what we want - either a replacement f.f. (of a different make) or a refund. That we have to have an engineer's visit from GIAS anyway, to confirm in a written report that the f.f. isn't working.

Ken wants to give them one last chance and request a fourth replacement. I'm too tired to argue. I just want a fridge-freezer that bloody works.
[sigh] More later.
After leaving the CAB I did a little more Yule shopping. Thornton's have a special on at the moment, spend £15 and get a free box of chocolate. I bought a new Yule tree too, should have been £6.99, reduced to £5 (Wilkinson's, 'New Forest Pine' 4 ft version, which is quite big enough for our little room). By the time I'd slogged round town and struggled back, box under one arm and bags on the other - that'll teach me not to take my rucksack! - it was gone midday...
Spent the next couple of hours wrapping presents (shouldn't have left it so long...) We kept finding more things we'd picked up for Kai (he's going to be a very happy sprog come Yule!) Then I collected him and we trotted off to the Showcase to see HP & GoF.
Hmmmmmm. Well, it was an incredibly ambitious project to start with, and there was no way everything in the book could have been crammed into one film. The events have been judiciously chosen and are given pretty much equal time onscreen, as far as I could tell on a first viewing - but it's choppy. It jumps from scene to scene with little buildup, and the scenes themselves feel hurried. And no-one really gets an adequate amount of screentime (except for Harry, of course, but even then his scenes feel rushed). I can see why Kai had trouble with it too, although he couldn't articulate it fully: as in the book, much of it deals with dawning adolescence, the kids' first noticing each other as something other than just schoolmates, and Kai's not at that stage yet.
So - noble attempt, I enjoyed it, the sfx are, as we'd expect, amazing, but I left feeling oddly unsatisfied. I'm hoping that there will be the usual extended director's cut to buy, and that it'll contain what (to me) appeared to be missing scenes, or at least longer versions of those in the theatrical release.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe opens here on the 10^th December (Erk. Or was it the 8^th?) Kai breaks up for Yule on the 20^th, which is, most conveniently, a Tuesday, and it's our anniversary on the 21^st: I've suggested Ken and I both pick Kai up on his last day and all go to the film together (I can't remember the last time we did that!) as an anniversary treat. (It would be nice to go for something to eat afterwards, but since TGIFriday's closed down the only places at Avon Meads are MacDonald's [spitspit], KFC and Pizza Hut (the latter is OK but not really anniversary meal material). Eh well.)
And I had an early night. Come 10pm I couldn't keep my eyes open, not even long enough to dry my mane, which this morning looks like a magpie nested in it...
Still tired this morning, and I have a busy day ahead: didn't get any work done yesterday at all. (Sorry, onna - will get back to you as soon as I can.)