Yesterday I mentioned my “magical lawnmower adventure” – which I also stated as not being magical or adventurous. Whatever the case, I thought I’d explain…

Last week my dad asked if I could get him a new lawnmower as his old one had broken. He’d seen one in a local DIY store that he liked. I looked online, found the model, and bought it via click and collect. The next day I went to the store, collected it, and took it round my dad’s house. All sorted, I thought.

On Sunday, we met my eldest son and his fiancé for a meal and, as they’ve only recently got their first home with a garden, and as they’re recently engaged, told them we’d buy them a lawnmower as a gift to keep their garden tidy. We decided to buy the same model that my dad had bought, and ordered it from the same store (again, using click and collect).

Then, yesterday, my dad called asking if I had the receipt for the mower. When I asked what the problem was, he told me that he couldn’t get the blade off the machine in order to alter the cutting height. As my dad is in his eighties, I told him I’d call round and give it a try after work. I decided to pick up my son’s mower on the way there.

When I got to my dad’s, what I’d assumed would be an easy job turned out to be anything but. The bolt holding the blade in place was super tight and I couldn’t budge it. If I’s had a suitable gauge spanner, I might have been ok, but all we had was a plastic spanner / wrench thing that had come with the mower. This was next to useless on the tightened bolt, just coming loose with not way to secure it in order to generate any real force. After a few attempts I decided I’d have to take it back to the store to see if they could sort it out. So I dismantled it, put it back in the box, and headed back.

At the store I explained the situation to the woman at the customer service desk and she called for assistance. A guy soon appeared to help and, upon hearing the issue, told me I wasn’t the first person to come to the store with the same problem. He had a go at loosening the bolt, but had just as little success as my dad and I. So he went and fetched another mower from the warehouse. We opened it in the store and attempted to take the blade off the replacement. It was stiff, but after a few goes it came loose. So we put it back in the box, and I drove back to my dad’s with it.

When I arrived I decided that I’d put it all together there and then to ensure there were no further issues. Inside the box were no instructions or other documentation, but two of the plastic spanner / wrenches! As it wasn’t tricky to put together, I did so without guidance and was able to test-mow a small section of his grass. However, as the documents are important for when my dad wants to maintaing the mower, or register the warranty, I told him I’d go back to the store again to see if I could grab the documents that were in the original machine’s box. So off I went.

At the store, the same woman was on the customer services desk and seemed a little surpised to see me back. I explained the situation and she called the same guy, who had already moved the faulty mower back to the warehouse. A few minutes later he appeared with the manual and other documentation and I was able to leave for, hopefully, the final time (for lawnmower-related activity at least).

I’ll let my dad have the documents when I next see him, and my wife is dropping our son’s mower off at his house at the weekend. I only hope he can remove the blade when he needs to…

So, there you have it. The full story. Maybe someone will find magic and adventure in there, but I think they’ll need to look hard.

I thought I’d post both these pictures today – they’re the same subjectj just from different points of view. They feature no lawnmowers.

Bronica ETRSi & Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9 mins 30 secs @ 20°

Taken 11 March 2023.