Chateau Keyboard

Saturday, June 7: Playing inkies

Inkies are the hobbits that live downstairs in the print room of newspapers. They're called inkies because, obviously, they're covered in ink. As I am today. Still. This damned HP Deskjet 930c contains far more ink than is reasonable or good for HP's profit margins, and it keeps on flooding out and out and out. I give up trying to wipe it with mere rolls of kitchen paper and stick it in the shower instead, and give it a good hosing down. Whereupon the largest spider in the world climbs out and almost manages to swim against the flow from the shower to attack me, but I manage to wash it down the plug hole.
A few hours later and either the same spider or its evil twin is washed out next time I have at this damned machine. Being phobic about spiders this does not endear me to the machine in question at all, and after another half hour of hosing down I dump it in the wheelbarrow outside to drain and dry in the sun.
By now I have so much ink all over me I could qualify for membership of NATSOPA, so I have a shower and a scrub with a pumice stone and then go for a swim in the pool, with extra chlorine which helps bleach me back to my regular pasty white with just hints of black ink up and down my arms.
The pool, incidentally and thanks for asking, is just lovely now; the water's at 24 degrees or more and in the sun it's very pleasant indeed. Half an hour a day doing laps every day this month so far, I'll be fitter than Mark Spitz soon.