This morning I booked and later collected a Rug Doctor from my local Tesco. I'd never used one before, but their marketing is good so I decided to make my beige lounge carpet look like new again.

The machine was really heavy and I struggled to get it into the car, and then out again of course, and the person who used it last hadn't cleaned it underneath.... photo... so I had to do it, not a good start. Having filled the reservoir with warm water and shampoo, I quickly found that I needed one hand for cable management and the other to pull the machine while keeping a finger on the shampoo button. Very hard work!

But the good news is that I think it's got the red wine out... that I knocked over the other evening when reaching for my specs. No more beautiful tall wineglasses for me, I'm going to use a squat tumbler like Mary used to. Serves me right!