Make room for the Roomba

We have a new toy. Actually it is rather demeaning to call it a toy when it is in fact a highly sophisticated piece of technology. I love it! It really does clean. It wanders around downstairs in our home vacuuming without my having to do anything more than switch it on – in fact I could programme a schedule for it so that I wouldn't even have to do that. It is really easy to empty and requires no more attention than any other vacuum cleaner. It isn't very heavy, so it is easy to carry upstairs and let loose to do its work up there. When it has finished it stops and plays a jingle. Then I can carry it back down and tell it to go to bed. I particularly enjoy watching it reverse into its docking station to recharge itself. So clever.

The cats have not as yet done anything cute like riding on it. They watch it with interest, but that is all. Perhaps they are too old to be more adventurous.

I think the Roomba is going to be one of those gadgets that feels like an expensive indulgence, but in fact becomes something you cannot imagine how you lived without. We were like that about buying a dishwasher. Before purchasing our first one we worked out how much water we used hand washing things versus how much the machine would use, etc, etc. Now I cannot imagine life without a dishwasher. I wonder if it was like that for people when the first washing machines appeared. No one today would question a household having a washing machine. The Roomba does a great job and saves me a lot of time and energy.

Now it needs a name. . .  It deserves a sophisticated name – but I can't help thinking of it as 'Squeaky' because it makes a slightly squeaky noise as it glides across the floor. A better name may need to occur to us quickly else it will be stuck with this rather inappropriate nickname.