Ping Pong anyone?

Visit London this week and you may have become caught up in the excitement that celebrated two years until the opening of the London 2012 Olympics. In the main arena, a group of children raced down a 100m track, whilst in the velodrome, Sir Chris Hoy took to his saddle hotly pursued by the mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

With only two years to go we can imagine the mayor has already got out his quill and started composing his Olympic welcoming speech. After all, the world stood in awe at his Olympic hand over speech of 2008 when he declared in front of a bemused Chinese audience that Ping Pong, or wiff waff as it was know in Victorian times, was coming home. This following an Olympic table tennis competition which had China winning all four gold medals on offer as part of a total haul of 8 out of 12 medals.

It is perhaps appropriate then that in the same week that we celebrate the Olympics coming to London, 100 table tennis tables have turned up around the capital. Installed as a result of a partnership between the English Table Tennis Association and Sing London, the tables have been funded by sport England as part of their attempt to get one million more people playing sport by 2012. There are lots of events associated with Ping London but if you see a table, you are free to walk up and have a go.

Of course, after a bout of table tennis your clothes themselves may have a touch of wiff waff about them and need throwing into the washing machine. The poor washing machine; let’s be honest, we do treat it with little care. Far too often we install our machine, regularly fill it up with dirty clothes and then replace it as soon as it goes wrong. With a little care, you can dramatically extend the life of your machine, especially in areas that are prone to lime scale.

Firstly, don’t forget to clean the fluff filter regularly and wipe around the door seals. Small amounts of dirt in these places can lead to damage in subsequent washes. To prevent mould building up in the soap dispenser take it out and wash it at least once a month under a tap or in the dishwasher. Our final top tip is to give the machine a good clean out every six months or more regularly if it is in heavy use. For an eco-friendly clean, pour in a pint of white wine vinegar and set your machine to wash once at the highest temperature and then on a normal wash cycle. To see a demonstration of this look on the media section of our website.

The combination of the vinegar and the two washes will reduce the lime scale problem and help your machine to last. Then you can play as much wiff waff as you want and not worry about wiffy clothes.