"Bad" things happen in threes.

Ever felt like the Universe is trying to tell you something?

First, the automatic garage door-opener broke. It was installed when we built the house and my excuse for not disconnecting it when we decided to live more simply and save as much electricity as possible (apart from the fact I don't enjoy getting wet when it rains), is that you can't lock the door in the closed position when it is turned off. It is making a rather awful noise instead of opening and a large piece of metal has been bent awkwardly so it looks expensive to fix. Seems hubby is going to have to fiddle with the normal lock this weekend to get it working again so I can use and lock the door sans electric opener.


The Gods of Green Living: 1, Julie: 0.

Next, I bought a bottle of "environmentally-friendly", "chlorine-free mould killer" for my shower. I know! I haven't used anything but an Enjo glove and occasionally some bicarb soda and a toothbrush in the shower since I fell pregnant with daughter #1 eight years ago. It is crazy busy around here at the moment and with the onset of winter weather, steamy showers and a closed-up bathroom meant the mould was getting away from me. So I succumbed. I bought chemicals. And they didn't work. In fact, it made the mould worse! How is that possible? It was like I sprayed around invisible liquid mould which grew insidiously overnight to end up twice as bad as when I started! I might as well have torn up the five dollars I spent on it and thrown it in the shower for all the good it did me. I can only assume the chemicals in it are so harsh that they etched the surface of the grout and formed a better bed for the mould to grow in than it had before. Lesson learned: Stick to the Enjo glove and bicarb/vinegar paste**.


The Universe: 2, Julie 0.


Then finally, this morning hubby turned the TV on when he got up; there was a snap, crackle and POP! A shower of sparks, the acrid smell of burnt electricals and the TV is no more. I've been talking for weeks about turning off the telly permanently, but I still like to watch the local news, Gardening Australia and Catalyst, and I am was very much enjoying Around the World in 80 Gardens. At this point I'm embarrassed to admit that we have a second telly in the kids' playroom, and until six weeks ago we had a third languishing in the bottom of a wardrobe for 3½ years. I tried to give it away on Freecycle twice, but apparently no one wants a 52cm CRT non-flat screen TV in perfect working order, sigh. We finally gave it to my in-laws when theirs blew up. Anyway, it seems that the Green Gods are trying to tell me that my living room shall hence forth be used for pursuits of the non-television-watching variety - surely a Good Thing yes?


The Environment: 3, Julie 0.


Or should that really be Environment: 3 and Julie: 3?

** Edited to add: Sprinkle bicarb on the area you want to clean, or mix it into a paste with a little water, spray with white vinegar and scrub while it fizzes. Rinse with hot water. Follow up with a spray made from ½ teaspoon oil of cloves in 1 litre/quart of water. Oil of cloves is available from pharmacies and is a mould-inhibitor.