it's never the same as the adverts

Now I may be strange, but when I was healthy and able, I used to actually enjoy doing the vacuuming. I think there was something about a man and his machine working in perfect harmony!!

Anyway, the other day I was feeling particularly energetic so while Lisa was in work I thought I'd help out and push the cleaner around.

Big mistake.  It nearly killed me; but that's by the by.

We have one of those cylinder vacuum cleaners with a long nozzle attachment.  It's made by Miele - a really good company from Germany, and their advertising shows a woman (gender stereotyping I know!!) smiling as she effortlessly vacuums away the daily detritus while her Miele dutifully follows her around the home.

This was far from my experience with the thing.

so simple the dog could use it...........erm, NO!

Firstly, it got caught or trapped on every piece of furniture no matter how small, necessitating a large jerk to get it to come to me and knocking over whatever was stopping it in the progress.  At one point it was so far behind me that by the time I had released it, it came towards me at such a rate I feared it had hit its terminal velocity.

Then there was the automatic cable retrieval system.  I pushed the button to pull the cable and the plug back in but the wire wrapped itself around me like some angry serpent before the plug his me straight on my ankle bone with the force of a small hammer.

Now I know the job of the advertiser is to sell their product by painting a harmonious picture of it in use.  But this was so at odds with the picture Miele painted to be absolutely ridiculous.

I think I'll leave it to Dexter next time.