This sucks!

Some blogs have all the luck. Ian (SingleParentDad) got to give away a Wii. The Disney Five enjoyed a trip to Florida. And The Dotterel gets… a vacuum cleaner! Yes, I've been trialling a Miele S7 for the last few days. And - thanks to a pedometer - I can reveal that in the course of a fortnight's vacuuming I've travelled nearly two kilometres and burnt off over 200 calories.

To be honest, I'm surprised it isn't more, as the Miele is one heavy beast of burden. It also sounds more like a jet-engine when it's starting, and has headlights like a Volkswagen. It certainly does the job, though, as you can see below. And with my parents staying recently, I'm not the only one to have had a go (although my mum did take the opportunity to inform me that I wasn't vacuuming correctly - 'you can tell you've not been taught to vacuum properly', she told me. And there's me thinking you could simply 'do' it).

It's got a groovy twisty handle thingy, which is useful (or would be if the weight of the machine didn't threaten to dislocate your wrist!) and it gets under Charlie's cot nicely (and better than the resident Dyson dirt-sucker). It's certainly built to last. And I'm a fan of Miele generally. But it's not the vacuum for me - it's got to go back tomorrow, anyway. As I said, some blogs have all the luck! At least I've got some nice clean carpets. And I've had a bit of exercise. But it's back to the Dyson from now on.