Watching Artemis II Break The Record

I have been passively following NASA's Artemis II project, but made sure to watch the most important part of the mission: when the crew broke the record set for the farthest humans have travelled away from Earth.

The previous record of 248,566 miles was held by the infamous Apollo 13 mission from 1970, which was aborted a couple of days on the way to the moon after an oxygen tank exploded on the spaceship.

Everybody here at my home watched NASA's live stream on the living room TV. I made a point of reminding my nephew that one day in the future - when he's really old - he'll be able to recount the moment to the younger generation.

With that said, I believe future missions might, if you pardon the pun, eclipse what we witnessed yesterday.

But, that's a story for another time.

An Easter Visit In The Mid-80s

I am kicking myself for forgetting something I had wanted to write for yesterday's post.

A few weeks ago, I reminded myself of an Easter Sunday when I was visited by the Easter Bunny himself and thought I'd recount it this year.

It must have been either '85 or '86. If I had to bet, I'd gamble on the former. I was in bed in the early hours of Easter Sunday morning and there was an alarm going off in the street behind my bedroom. The noise was keeping me awake. It actually gave me a headache which lasted for the rest of the day, but that's beside the point. As I laid there, I looked at the wall in front of me and I could swear there was a light green shadow standing there looking at me.

It obviously must have been the streetlights making the shadow. Little old me didn't use that reason back then, however. I was sure the Easter Bunny was there making sure I was asleep before they dropped off my eggs.

I had even tricked myself into thinking it was breathing as well. A wheezy sound. It could have been the some echo or affect from the alarm going off in the background. 

It was an experience which lasted with me ever since. 

A few years after that, the cartoon - Bucky O'Hare - about a space rabbit (I didn't watch it) would be on Children's BBC. Whenever I recall that 'visit', I think back to the ghostly green colour and imagine that's how the Easter Bunny looked.

Reeseless Native

Easter is over for another year.

Well, where I'm concerned.

I made a really nice lamb dinner (if I say so myself!). After doing that, I fired up the laptop and realised I had forgotten to write a post for today.

Here it is.

I would have mentioned having a Reese's egg, like previous years. Not this time. The stock had ran out by the time my Asda delivery came the other day.

I'm a Reeseless Native this Easter.

Raiders Of The Lost Samsung Emergency Drain Hose

I have just came out of quite an unnecessarily annoying couple of days.

To backtrack, we bought a new washing machine a fortnight ago. For those who are particularly interested in the make and model number it's a Samsung Series 5 WW90CGC04DAB. I made sure to put that detail in just in case somebody is looking for help with what I'm about to cover.

Back to Thursday:  I was still getting used to the machine, so - even though I had only owned if for a short period of time - I thought I'd check out the drain filter at the front of the washer.

I had read up about the Samsung filters before purchasing the appliance. I was particularly keen on the idea of a drain hose beside the filter to easily remove water from the washer before removing the filter. I say this knowing how much water came out of my previous washing machines from other brands that didn't have the hose. It is a winner of an idea.

Or so I thought.

After unplugging the cap of the hose, I poured most of the water into a jug. I then turned away for a split second to put the jug to one side and returned to see the hose sliding back into the hole beside the filter.

I didn't instantly believe anything was awry. I thought I would be able to put my finger in and scoop it back out. Nope. The hose had moved further back into the washer. To make matters even worse, I couldn't see it anywhere when I peeked through the hole.

Not even with a torch!

Bear in mind, I still hadn't replaced the cap. So, there was no way I could use the washing machine until I was able to retrieve the emergency hose.

I spent most of Thursday evening desperately trying to find just a brief glimpse of the pipe so I could try to find a way to hook it back close to the hole. Again, nope. 

I read up comments on help forums. A lot of people have had similar issues with many of the Samsung models. I didn't know how to approach it. Microsoft Copilot's suggestion was to take off the black casing around the filter. I wasn't brave enough to attempt that because I don't think the AI program had given me sound advice. I sent a photo text to my friend asking if he reckons the casing could come off. He wasn't confident enough in that plan either, so I decided not to attempt it.

There was a YouTube video of a person with a similar, yet different, Samsung who also had the missing pipe situation. His approach was to turn the washing machine over and access the appliance from underneath by screwing off a panel. He showed how to find the hidden hose and then feed it back into through to where it should be. 

Well, that was the plan. I had no choice. Well, I could have tried to contact the company I bought the washing machine from but I read that some won't sign off on getting a repair because it's not broken. According to forum users, on my search (And also on the YouTube video I watched), it costs around £100 to have engineers come out to fix this.

Weaponed up with a screwdriver and my youngest nephew, I took on the Samsung yesterday afternoon. We flipped the machine over only to find... I didn't need to use the screwdriver! 

There was a dark panel underneath the machine with a hole inside for me to put my hand inside. I soon found the pipe and, after a few troublesome minutes trying to feed it to the hole, I was able to put it back into place and put the cap back on. 

As you can see, I've also wrapped a rubber band over the hose in an attempt to thwart it from moving back inside the machine when it's used in future.

I'd like to give a double middle finger to Samsung (one of those fingers are grazed from Thursday's attempts to retrieve the pipe, by the way!) for the crap design that makes this hose slide in so easily. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the way my front panel looks is worse than the earlier models because the holes in those ones are smaller. 

That huge headache aside, I do like the washing machine. I'd recommend it for functionality, but I advise to be careful with the drain hose.

The Long Good Friday ‘26

It’s the semi-regular Good Friday post where I write about how I feel it’s one of the most dullest days in the year.

It’s the fakest Bank Holiday on the calendar. Only because it doesn’t feel like one.

The Fools

Yesterday was the day to be on your toes when it comes to what you read.

I almost fell into an April Fool's Day trap by Frank Bruno. I read a post he put up on TAFKA Twitter indicating that Jake Paul's people were looking to offer him big money for an exhibition fight. By the time I finished reading the post, I realised what it was. But, I have to be fair - it was a close call.

One of the most craziest things to happen yesterday, however, may have been from something that is actually true.

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver - Puka Nacua - is currently in rehab. He has been in the news recently due to allegations of assault and battery and is being sued by someone over that matter. Nacua's agent released a statement yesterday indicating that his client has made the choice to seek help. It's claimed Nacua made the decision to do that before the alleged victim filed against him.

Anyway, what ever is going with Nacua was reported by top class reporters who cover the NFL. I saw a lot of people under the impression that the rehab story was fake because of the date it was released.

Ironically, that makes the disbelievers fools. 

Doesn't it?

Italy Out (Again)

It shouldn't really have been a surprise to see Italy fail to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Not after having seen them miss the previous two tournaments.

But, here we are - not even a day later - and there are certain reporters airing their disbelief that such a thing could happen.

Again - Italy missed the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. 

It isn't something new.

The Italians fell to Bosnia-Herzegovina on penalties in last night's qualifier. Wales experienced a similar loss to them last week.

There are now seventy-one days to go until the tournament kicks off. 

I'll be keeping an eye on Bosnia-Herzegovina only because of who they beat in these playoff qualifiers. I won't be rooting for them, however. 

Brazil, just like every other year (well, apart from 2022 when I focused on Wales), will be the team I hope will win.

But, knowing it has been twenty-four years since they last lifted the trophy, I am fully aware that Brazil not winning the World Cup isn't something new.