Introducing Rupert

Hello Everybody,

Yes, I know - I've been astonishingly bad at blogging this year. It's now May and I have just realised that haven't posted anything since January. Oops. I have a few things to share with you and I'm going to start with Rupert.

Rupert arrived to live at Thistle House on Good Friday. He came all boxed up and I actually didn't unpack him until the next day, despite being very excited to meet him. Here he is:

Can you guess what he is? He's a Roomba 770 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner made by iRobot. Yes, before you ask, I am lazy. I absolutely HATE vacuum cleaning and never seem to be able to find the time to do it. To be honest, I'd rather spend my life doing other things, so I thought I'd treat myself.

He's fab, I fell in love with him straight away. Rupert can't do stairs and obviously will only clean areas he can get to/around, but he does a pretty good job. I can't believe how much dirt he keeps finding - I did a thorough clean before putting him to work. He goes under the beds and sofas and has even brought a sock back to his docking station for me - it's like having a little pet. I've used him at least every other day since I got him and he's still behaving himself. He comes with a virtual wall to stop him going places, but I haven't used it yet as it takes those really fat batteries and I don't have any. I'm not sure it's really necessary in my house anyway. I just open all the doors on one floor and let him work his way from room to room. He's quite slow and although not as noisy as a traditional vacuum, still quite loud. I was a bit worried about the size of the waste compartment before getting him. He does need to be emptied regularly, but can manage an entire floor of the house in one go with no probs.

Here is his underside (sorry Roops):

He is a bit dirty and due a nappy change - sorry. The compartment at the bottom is where he collects his dust. It's usually transparent so, as you can see, it's full! The compartment above that contains two brushes that can be removed. One with bristles (covered in my hair!) and one with rubber bits. Then at the top left there's a little brush that spins around, getting in all the nooks and crannies. You can take that out to be cleaned too. It all seems very easy to maintain. There are two little filters but I don't think they can be washed and replacement ones have to be bought every so often.

Rupert came with two brush cleaning tools, which are rather nifty. 

The one on the left, or above, is one for the bristle brush. It is ingenious. You just slide the brush through the centre hole and all the hair gets caught in its teeth. Brilliant.

The other one I haven't used as much. It is a multitool and includes a tiny scalpel edge for slicing through stubborn bits of tangled hair etc.

Rupert has on occasion got himself in a bit of a tangle. Generally, he untangles himself (he has an anti tangle mechanism!) and cables don't appear to be a problem. However, I have some bits of spare carpet with unsealed edges that he like to chew and unravel (they have been moved now) and he also once bumped into a pile of yarn, knocked it over and started to eat it. Fortunately, no harm was done to either Rupert or the yarn.

Speaking of which, here is the yarn in question:

It is Wendy Capri - the label look as though it's from the 80s or 90s - and is a textured cotton/acrylic mixed in off-white with strands of pastel blue and pink running through it. It was donated to me - I have a bagful- and I have no idea what to do with it. I could always make dishcloths or shower scrubs. Initially, I was going to make a baby toy, but wasn't sure whether it would be weird with blue and pink?

Any ideas?

Anyway, I'm going to love you and leave you with a photo of these wonderfully fragrant freesias, which are brightening up my lounge in this dull weather.

Thistle Girl x